Daifuku-kun
by ahiijny
Summary: They all quit sooner or later.
1. Prologue

**日常****\- nichijou, Arawi Keiichi**

* * *

March, 2011.

Nakanojou-san is a middle aged man and he may or may not be going through a midlife crisis right now. His hair has already started greying, but that really doesn't have anything to do with it. Right now, he's on his way home from his job at Daiku Daifuku. What he wants is his very own daifuku store, but his ventures into entrepreneurship in the past have never lasted very long.

He sighs. And then he notices a poster taped to the wall next to the sidewalk. He walks over to read it.

_Community involvement grants: Do you want to improve your community? Submit your idea and you could receive a 100,000 yen grant to create positive changes in your community._

He skims the fine print and then spots the organizing company at the bottom. "The neighbourhood association?" He scrutinizes the poster, confirming its validity. An idea begins forming in his mind. "It could work." There's a web address on the poster, so he rips the poster off the wall and takes it home with him.

He sits down in front of their home computer to access the website and print out the submission form. He manages to do this in only two hours.

"All right, then." Nakanojou-san takes out a pen and starts filling out the form.

_What..._ _do you want to do?  
_Hold a Daifuku Fair to showcase the pure white Daifuku of Nakanojou Daifuku. The hungry pedestrians will be able to satiate their hunger while simultaneously admiring the pure whiteness of the Daifuku.

_Where... will it happen?  
_A street with lots of people.

_When... will it happen?  
_Saturday - Sunday, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM  
(All weather)

He nods, satisfied. He then spends half an hour trying to figure out how to use the scanner before giving up and mailing in the submission physically.

And so it begins.

* * *

日常 - nichijou, Arawi Keiichi


	2. Daifuku-kun I

日常 - nichijou, Arawi Keiichi

* * *

April, 2011.

Tamamura's courses have ended for the day. She's on her way out of the campus when she spots a familiar face by the gateway.

"Ah, Nakanojou-san?" she asks, addressing the strict-looking man. "Um, how have you been? Er… what brings you here?"

"It has been a while. I would like to ask a favour of you," he says, holding up a sheet of paper.

"Of course," she responds earnestly. "You really helped me out that time..." She blinks, then reaches forward and accepts the sheet of paper with both hands.

"I received a grant from the Neighbourhood Association," he says. "I'm planning on using the money to hold a Daifuku fair."

"That's... er, great, Nakanojou-san," she says, smiling nervously. "You've always been serious about daifuku..."

Tamamura reads over the flyer. She thinks that the map at the bottom right corner of the paper is a nice touch. It'd probably come in handy since she doesn't have a very reliable sense of direction.

"So… what would you like me to do?" she asks.

"I need someone to work for me for the fair."

"A job? Er… that is, I don't have a job right now, so it should probably be fine, I think…"

"It's part-time. The fair will be happening every Saturday and Sunday from nine to five."

Tamamura nods distractedly. She doesn't have any classes on the weekend, so there should be no conflicts, hopefully. "Um, those hours should be fine." She smiles nervously. Wait. "I'm sorry... did you say _every_ Saturday and Sunday?"

"Yes." Nakanojou-san responds with utmost seriousness.

"Ah…" Tamamura fidgets. "Don't fairs only last for a limited amount of time?"

"They do."

"Er…" She looks away. "Ah, so, what will I be doing at this job?" asks Tamamura. "If I have to interact with customers, I'm sorry, I don't think I'm really good at that, but I'll try my best…"

"I had another task in mind," says Nakanojou-san. "The mascot."

Tamamura exhales silently. Mascots aren't too bad. She'd prefer that sort of job over acting as a cashier or something like that. "You created a mascot, Nakanojou-san? I think that's a good idea. The children will probably love it…" She laughs nervously.

"Yes," says Nakanojou-san. "I thought that it would be beneficial to attracting a larger audience. The mascot, Daifuku-kun."

"That's great. I'm… er… I'll look forward to seeing you this Saturday." She bows.

Nakanojou-san nods without smiling. "Thank you for your help." He turns around and leaves.

Tamamura watches him walk away. She notices that her heart is racing. She takes a deep breath. It's shaky. She tries to calm down.

That conversation was unexpectedly nerve-wracking!

Jobs are serious business... What if she messes up? She turns around and starts walking towards the train station. She's always had trouble talking with strangers. She would get nervous and tongue-tied and her heart rate would shoot up to unhealthy levels.

Her grip on her school bag tightens. She's going to need to improve her people skills, or else she's never going to be able to land a job. Actually, Naganon told her that.

She hopes that Saturday will go smoothly.

* * *

"Here," says Nakanojou-san, handing Tamamura a name tag with the label _Daifuku-kun_.

Tamamura clips the tag on her shirt.

"Put this on," says Nakanojou-san, handing Tamamura a giant egg-shaped mask.

She stares at it. Come to think about it, she doesn't really know anything about mascots.

"Um… Do I just put it on?" asks Tamamura, looking at the bottom side of the mask.

"Yes."

"Won't I… er… be unable to see?"

"That's fine. You won't be moving around much, anyway."

"E...ehh?..." Tamamura stares at the mask with great trepidation. Is this what all mascot-wearers have to face? Putting on a head mask, and having to spend the day blind?

Wait, shouldn't mascot heads usually have eyeholes?

She looks over at Nakanojou-san. She's hesitated too long. He looks just as expressionless as usual, but she can already imagine the displeasure that must be running through his head right now.

Taking a deep breath, Tamamura lifts the heavy mask over her head and plops it on.

It's dark. There are no eye holes. There aren't any breathing holes, either. All of the air has to come in and out through the neck hole at the bottom of the mask.

She takes a breath. It... seems like she has enough air? The gap around the bottom of the mask is large enough. That's a relief.

She tries turning her head. It feels really weird. The additional inertia of the mask makes the movement a lot more sluggish than she's used to.

"How is it?" asks Nakanojou-san's muffled voice from outside.

"Um… it's dark in here," says Tamamura. Her voice sounds very loud. "But the air flow is okay." Also, there's enough room in here so that she doesn't feel like she's suffocating. That's good. Having a panic attack would be really embarrassing.

"Hm," says Nakanojou-san.

She hears Nakanojou-san walking away to the Daifuku stand.

"Um, Nakanojou-san? Er… what should I do exactly?"

"Attracting customers is fine."

Oh, maybe she should have done some research on what mascots do? This is bad… No, no excuses. She has to make the best of this situation. It's her first day on the job—she wants to make a good impression.

First of all, she shouldn't stand around like a statue. If she moves around more, maybe more people will be interested.

She takes a step towards the stand, trips, and then face-plants into the ground.

"Hm," says Nakanojou-san's voice from above. "Maybe I should cut in eye holes."

Tamamura's face burns with embarrassment. "I think, maybe… that would be a good idea," she says. She's so incredibly grateful that the mask is hiding her face.

Nakanojou-san helps her up. "Didn't have any trouble walking around when I tried it though," he mutters. A sigh. "Anyway, I'll add eye holes for the mask for tomorrow."

"Ah… okay. Thank you?"

Nakanojou-san takes several steps back. "Hm."

Tamamura frets. Is she doing something wrong?

"Try doing something."

"Sorry?"

"Try doing something a mascot would do."

"Er…" Tamamura raises her hands. "Try… some Daifuku. They're really… ... ... white."

Her face burns. That was way too quiet! Why on earth did she agree to this? She's horrible at this.

"As I thought. Talking doesn't go well with Daifuku."

"Sorry." Tamamura bows, and almost falls over again because of the weight of the mask.

"No, it's fine. Your character is a Daifuku, and Daifuku don't talk."

"Oh…" Is she supposed to pantomime then? Drama was her worst subject, but she did okay with charades because she didn't need to say anything…

Um… An action. She tries tilting her head quizzically.

"Yes, I think it's better this way," says Nakanojou-san. "Try being a non-talking Daifuku-kun for now."

"O..." Tamamura stops herself mid-word, nodding instead. She hears Nakanojou-san walk back to attend the stand.

She straightens her posture and takes a deep, shaky breath, trying to slow her heart rate. She should really try to do something about her anxiety. At this rate, her heart's going to wear out from overuse by the time she's 40.

Imagining all of the looks from the passing pedestrians, she crosses her arms in front of herself self-consciously. She sighs shakily.

* * *

After a long day of doing what basically amounted to standing at the side of the street wearing an daifuku mask, Tamamura sets the mask aside and wipes her brow.

"Thank you very much for the opportunity," says Tamamura, bowing politely. "Er… I'll see you again tomorrow?"

Nakanojou-san nods. He holds out an envelope. "This is for today."

"Um…" Tamamura peers at the envelope. "Sorry… what is this?"

"This is your pay."

Tamamura stares blankly.

Oh right. She's being paid for this. She had completely forgotten. She slowly accepts the envelope with both hands. "Ah… thank you."

Nakanojou-san nods emotionlessly.

Tamamura stands there awkwardly for a while before turning around and leaving. Her face is flushed. _How did I do today? Did I leave a good impression? Did I make any mistakes?_ She squints her eyes. _Agggh… working is so stressful._

She doesn't open the envelope until she gets home.

* * *

"Um… you added eyeholes?" asks Tamamura.

"Yes," says Nakanojou-san.

Tamamura slowly turns the egg-shaped mask around in her hands. "I… I don't really see any."

"The eye holes are tiny. If they were any larger, they would visibly ruin the perfectly smooth and white surface of Daifuku-kun's head." He points at the mask.

"I… see…?" Tamamura hesitates.

"Well? Put it on."

She pauses for another second before taking a deep breath and plopping it on. "Oh. I can see."

"All right, let's return to work."

* * *

The day passes uneventfully. To Tamamura's intense gratitude, there were no children that approached her. In fact, it seemed as if all of the passing pedestrians were doing their best to avoid her. Not that she's complaining…

After removing the mask, Tamamura takes out her handkerchief and wipes her face.

Her gaze wanders over to the Daifuku mask, which is sitting next to the stand where Nakanojou-san is busy packing up. Why was it that everyone seemed to give her a wide berth? She's had all day to think about this. Could it be that Daifuku-kun… was scary? She can't in good conscience accept pay if she's just standing there scaring away potential customers.

"Um…" She pauses. How exactly should she phrase the question?

"Yes?" Nakanojou-san looks up.

Oh. She should have planned out her entire question before she opened her mouth! Shoot, now she's put on the spot! She has to think of something before the silence becomes too awkward! "Er… Um… I was wondering what… Daifuku-kun looked like?"

Nakanojou-san looks at her. Ack. Maybe she should elaborate.

"Um… Because I've always been wearing the mask, and I wondered what it would look like from the outside?"

Nakanojou-san looks around. "Hm. No mirrors around. I see." He bends down and picks up the mask. "Like this, I would presume." He puts it on.

Tamamura just stares. That… was Daifuku-kun? It's just a person in normal clothes with just a large egg shape for a head. No visible eye holes, or mouth holes, or any telltale signs of looking like a person.

She covers her mouth, fidgeting. She's not sure, but maybe this is why Daifuku-kun is so scary? It has no face. Sort of like a monster.

Oh, and she's been using the pronoun 'it' instead of 'he', hasn't she? Despite it supposedly being a Daifuku-_kun_. She nods. She's figured out what the problem most likely is. All they have to do now is fix it, and then she'll be able to work more earnestly.

"Admiring the beauty of the mask, I suppose?" asks Nakanojou-san, who has been standing still this entire time. He takes off the mask and looks at it with a fond look in his eyes. "I know. It's a masterpiece."

_Huh?_

"A splendid caricature of Daifuku itself." He sets it down gently. "I spent weeks refining it until it was perfect."

Tamamura bites her lip. He built the mask himself?

"My Daifuku business does have standards, after all. I even asked my son for help to ensure its perfect roundness." Nakanojou-san smiles faintly, looking into the distance. "I guess those mathematics of his really do have a use after all."

"Um?..." Tamamura asks, hesitantly raising a finger.

"That's right. No blemishes, no holes. A perfectly round Daifuku head for Daifuku-kun." Nakanojou-san puts his hands on his hips, beaming. Tamamura can practically feel the pride just radiating off of him.

"Uh…" She sags, sighing. There's no way that she can ask him to destroy his vision of a perfect mask just like that. There's no way. She closes her eyes. But if things continue at this rate, then Daifuku-kun here might scare away all of the customers, and leave his Daifuku Fair for naught.

Oh, no… A dilemma, a dilemma. She hates these sorts of situations. What's more important? His pride and passion? Or money and success?

Tamamura gasps, clamping her hands on top of her mouth. Oh. She's started hyperventilating. She holds her breath, forcing herself to calm down.

"It's been a long day," says Nakanojou-san. He hands over an envelope. "Why don't you go home and get some rest?"

Tamamura nods. "Uh, yes! Thank you very much!" She accepts the envelope with both hands. Turning around, she walks away at a hasty pace.

Well, she has until next Saturday to figure this out… Maybe if she sleeps on the problem, she'll come up with something.

She has a whole week… That's plenty of time to come up with something.

_"Ha!" said Naganon. "Procrastination always starts with an innocent phrase like that, y'know? Before you know it, you'll be up at 6 am with your essay, desperately trying to BS your way into a passing grade! Say, that reminds me of this one time—"_

Tamamura shakes her head, dispelling the memory. She's not procrastinating.

* * *

And so it became Friday afternoon.

Tamamura whimpers. She really did spend all week putting it off, and now she has to return to Daifuku Fair tomorrow. What should she do now?

She reaches into her bag and takes out her phone, flipping it open. She stares at it for a while before snapping it shut again. No, Naganon has more or less the same schedule as herself. That girl should still be hanging around the campus somewhere.

After searching for ten minutes, Tamamura finally finds her friend in the library. "Ah, Naganon?" asks Tamamura, walking up to the computer. "Are you busy?"

Her friend looks up, grinning. "No, not especially." She closes a program on her computer. "What did you want to talk about? Ooh, want more programming help?"

"Not really. Um, it's about my part time job."

"Ooh, a part time job." Naganon leans forward. "How is it?"

"It's... interesting."

"What do you do exactly?"

"Do you remember Nakanojou-san?"

"No."

Tamamura pauses. "Anyway, he has a Daifuku stand set up, and I'm working as the mascot."

"Daifuku-chan?"

"Daifuku-kun." Tamamura sits down. "That's the problem, I think. The mascot design... might be scaring away prospective customers." She phrases this carefully.

"What makes you say that?"

"The mascot! Is! Creepy!" Tamamura collapses on the table with her arms splayed out. "It's just an egg shaped mask, with no eyes or mouth or face or anything!"

"Do you have an image?"

"Here, I could draw it for you."

The sound of a pencil scribbling. Naganon glances at it.

"It looks cute."

"No it doesn't."

"So, you think the mascot is creepy." Naganon turns to Tamamura. "Have you discussed it with this Nakanojou-san?"

"No..."

Naganon snaps her fingers. "Solution number one, right there! Go, go!"

"I can't just do that!"

"Oh?"

"Um..." Tamamura looks up at the ceiling. "Actually, Nakanojou-san likes the mask exactly the way it is. He said something about liking the pure whiteness and unblemished surface."

"So, does he just like perfect geometric solids, or does he just dislike anthropomorphized versions of his favourite food?" Naganon snaps her fingers again. "If he's a Daifuku nut, maybe he just doesn't want the concept of Daifuku to be tainted with any human traits."

"I... don't know."

"You haven't asked him? 'Hey, Nakanojou-san, why do you think this mask is perfect?'"

"I... I can't just do that!" Tamamura lifts up her hands. "What if he gets suspicious about why I'm asking? He'll find out that I don't think agree with his opinion of the mask, and he'll be deeply hurt!"

Naganon laughs. "Enka-chan, you're just being melodramatic. If he's a reasonable person, he'll understand the logic in your concerns, and act upon them accordingly."

"But..." Tamamura's eyes darken. "I'm not entirely sure that he's a reasonable person."

"Hm? Well, you could be wrong."

"First of all, this Daifuku Fair that he's running..." Tamamura looks away. "I'm not even sure that it's a fair."

"You didn't say it was a fair."

"He calls it a fair, though." Tamamura takes out the flyer. "But... 'Every Saturday and Sunday'? Fairs only last a limited amount of time, right? I think this is suspicious."

"Fairs can last pretty long," says Naganon, noncommittally, looking over the flyer. She looks up at Tamamura. "Hmm... You're afraid that he will only see the mask his own way, and refuse to accept your criticisms?"

"Um... if it's like that, then it can't be helped?"

"Then you're afraid of hurting his feelings."

Tamamura pauses.

Naganon laughs. "Enka-chan, your personality type is a rarity these days."

"Also, I'm not sure how he'll take it." Tamamura leans forward. "He's always so serious about everything."

"True, true, there are those types of people." Naganon waves her hand. "But. You do have another option. Two, actually."

"What is it?"

"One. Accept the challenge. Attempt to attract customers despite the constraints of your costume."

Tamamura frowns. "I don't know how to approach that..."

"And option two: Quit."

"I... I can't just do that!"

Naganon grins. "Okay, okay."

Tamamura looks at the sketch of the mask. "I don't have any idea how to make the mascot less imposing, though..."

"I don't think you'll have any trouble. The costume's adorable!"

"I think your tastes are different from most other people."

"Well, then use that voice of yours! Surely there's some magic sequence of words that will attract pedestrians." Naganon lifts a finger, grinning. "_Left! Left! Left_ a wife and _sev_enteen children in _star_ving condition with _noth_ing but gingerbread _left—_"

"Actually, Daifuku-kun doesn't talk."

"He doesn't?" Naganon smiles. "Now that's an interesting challenge."

"It's a hard challenge."

"The only interesting challenges are hard ones."

"Not necessarily."

"Hm... Well, you'll always have your body language. Y'know, your body language shapes who you are."

"I don't think I really have any body language..."

"Well. You're always scrunched up like that, fidgeting."

Tamamura looks down at her hands. Is she fidgeting? People would do that sort of thing subconsciously, so it's actually hard to tell if she consciously focuses on it.

Naganon grins. "You are now breathing manually."

Tamamura takes a few breaths. She gives Naganon a weird look.

"So, you have work tomorrow?" asks Naganon.

"Yeah..."

"Maybe I'll drop by sometime."

Tamamura quickly pulls the flyer away. That... that would be really embarrassing! "Um... I'd rather you didn't?"

"Don't worry, I've already memorized the map."

Tamamura sighs. Hopefully, Naganon won't make too much of a fuss of things if she visits.

* * *

So, she'll just try the best she can to become an unimposing mascot with the limits she has imposed upon her. Right.

It's Saturday, and Tamamura is standing in her Daifuku-kun costume beside the stand just like the previous two times that she's worked here. And like the previous two times, all of the passing pedestrians are giving her wary looks, and they're trying to keep their distance from her.

Thanks to Naganon's mention of body language, Tamamura is consciously aware of the state of her body. And it's tense. And sort of scrunched up. She would like to try something, but the thought of it would cause her cheeks to flare up. In the end, it seems that she just has no courage.

Or perhaps she's just bad at performing in front of a crowd. Or perhaps it's because they're strangers.

She's been standing in motionless for the last hour. At least it's good endurance practice. And at least she's being paid. Tamamura closes her eyes. But it doesn't feel legitimate at all!

Nakanojou-san is talking away in the background, advertising the various good qualities of the Nakanojou Daifuku aloud to no one in particular.

* * *

"Aha, so this is Daifuku Fair!"

Tamamura turns her head nervously, spotting her friend at the stand. So she did show up.

"Five, please! How much would that be?"

"500 yen."

A short pause.

"Here you go."

Naganon is walking her way. Tamamura suddenly feels extremely self-conscious. Does she look stupid in this costume? It's... really embarrassing. She's glad that the mask is concealing her face, but Naganon already knows who is under the mask, so it's kind of pointless.

Naganon stops in front of Tamamura, grinning. "Nice to meetcha, Daifuku-kun!"

Tamamura isn't supposed to talk. What is the correct response to that sort of greeting? She hesitantly raises a hand, waving in response.

Naganon grabs the hand, shaking it. "Ha. It looks like you're underwater. Be more confident, y'know?"

How can she be confident? She's wearing such a weird costume!

Naganon takes several steps backwards, almost walking into a few pedestrians. They shoot her a few puzzled looks, but Naganon doesn't seem to notice. She scans Tamamura from top to bottom, a silly grin on her face.

A few other pedestrians have switched their attention from Naganon to Tamamura herself, shooting puzzled looks her way. She feels sweat trickling down her face. Does she actually feel better when people are trying to avoid her? How can she actually do work in the future if she can't handle a little attention from strangers?

Naganon nods, takes out a notebook, and scribbles in it for a while.

Tamamura closes her eyes, smiling nervously. Er... Why is that girl taking notes?

Naganon finishes writing, and then waves, walking off. "See ya later!"

* * *

"The mascot appears to be successful in attracting more customers," says Nakanojou-san.

"Er... I think it was only that girl." Tamamura sets the mask next to the stand. "Um... she's special... in all sorts of ways, so I wouldn't really say that Daifuku-kun... did that."

"Oh? Do you know her?"

"Um..." Tamamura sweats. How should she answer?

A long, awkward five seconds pass.

"I... think?"

"How do you think if you know someone?" asks Nakanojou-san, reaching into his pocket. "You either do or you don't. Here's your payment for today."

"Ah. Er... thank... you," Tamamura stutters, reaching out for the envelope.

* * *

"Uniform?"

"That's right!" Nagano flips through her notebook. "I think your casual clothes clash with the Daifuku-kun mask, so you should design some sort of uniform to optimize aesthetics."

Tamamura takes a sip from her tea. "How do you figure?"

"I'm no design expert, but why not a monochromatic uniform?" Naganon holds up her notebook. "White all the way! White dress shirt, white pants, white shoes, white bow tie—"

"Why a bow tie?"

"Bow ties are cool."

Tamamura takes the notebook and looks at the rough sketch. "I'm not sure if the pure whiteness is the best idea. If I'm all white, wouldn't I sort of... you know, look like a ghost?"

"Oh." Naganon twirls her pen. "Hadn't thought of that. That's a plus."

"A minus. A ghost would scare people away..."

"Not necessarily."

"I think it would."

"Or, perhaps we could give you a black suit. That combined with the no face would make you look like slender man."

"I don't even know what that is, but it sounds... bad." Tamamura hands the notebook back. "So no."

"Maybe a black and white motif, then. We can try to make you look like a penguin."

"Naganon, what is with all of this 'looking like' business? It... it's supposed to be Daifuku, right?"

Naganon laughs. "Right, right. Just fooling around." She flips through the notebook. "But I really do think that the bow tie is a good idea. It makes you look professional and legitimate. Sure, you might be scared of a sloppily dressed dude who looks like they're about to mug you, but a bow tie? The professionalism just adds on that extra layer of trust, y'know?"

"Hm." She has a point. "But I don't know how to tie one..."

"Aw, pshaw." Naganon waves her hand. "That's what the internet is for."

"Right..."

"So, here are some other things that I've been thinking about..."

She goes on for quite a bit after that.

* * *

A car slows down, pulling up to Tamamura, who's on her way home from the university campus. A window rolls down. "Do you know where the basketball gym is?" asks the driver.

Tamamura tenses. "S... sorry, I don't."

"Okay, thanks anyway." The car pulls away.

Tamamura involuntarily takes a couple of deep breaths. She puts a hand to her throat, surprised. She's started hyperventilating again.

* * *

"Is there anyone here?" asks a customer.

Tamamura turns her head. Where did Nakanojou-san go without telling her? In any case, it's okay to talk now because someone needs to take care of the stand, right?

"Um," says Tamamura, walking behind the stand. "I... I think the owner went to the restroom."

"Right, okay," says the customer. "How much for one?"

"Er..." She's been hearing Nakanojou-san doing sales in the background for a long time now, so she should know the price. It's 100 yen, right? Nakanojou-san would become extremely disappointed if she accidentally charged the wrong price... But it is 100 yen, right? Yes, she distinctly remembers Nakanojou-san saying 100 yen.

"Hello?" says the customer.

"Um. Er, right! It's 100 yen each," says Tamamura. Why did she take so long to respond? The customer will think terribly of the customer service, and he'll never come back again, and it'll be all her fault. Nakanojou-san would be most displeased.

"Right, I'll take one, then," says the customer, placing a coin on the counter.

Wait, what is she supposed to do in this situation? Is she supposed to hand the Daifuku over to the customer? But her hands might be dirty, and the Daifuku is perfectly in reach of the customer. Wait, was Nakanojou-san wearing gloves? She can't remember. And is she supposed to put the Daifuku into a bag? She should have paid more attention...

Oh.

The customer just grabbed a daifuku and left.

Tamamura's face feels flaming hot. She takes a few deep breaths. Why is she so bad with dealing with strangers?

* * *

Tamamura seats herself down in front of her home computer and opens up Internet Explorer. The new semester started a couple of weeks ago, so she has some textbooks to buy.

She could buy them new or used…

Hm... New is probably better.

She navigates through several online stores such as eBay and Amazon, searching for the textbooks that she needs and checking their prices. Eventually, she decides on a major bookstore company. They don't have any in stock in stores nearby, but she could have a copy shipped over to a store, and shipping is free this way.

So she has to pay online.

Okay. It's no big deal. She sets her debit card on the table. Looking through the web form, she inputs all of her information slowly and carefully. Finally, she gets to the part where she has to specify the method of payment. The link takes her to her bank's website, where she can enter her debit card information.

Okay. She can do that. She slowly types in the 16 digit number. After checking it over twice to make sure that it's correct, she clicks "continue".

The page loads slowly, but she's used to it. She's a patient person.

_There was an error processing your request. Please call the number 0120-__δ25-3λ9 for further assistance._

"Huh?..." Tamamura stares at the error message. She slowly moves her mouse to the back button. Maybe she entered her debit card number incorrectly.

The previous page loads. Tamamura enters her number again, double-checking it before clicking "continue".

_There was an error processing your request. Please call the number 0120-__δ25-3λ9 for further assistance._

The error message appeared again… She stares at the screen. She looks down at her card and back up at the screen again.

She tries again.

_There was an error processing your request. Please call the number 0120-__δ25-3λ9 for further assistance._

"Maybe…" Tamamura says hesitantly. "Maybe I have to leave spaces in between the digits?"

This doesn't work. When she tries leaving spaces between groups of four digits, the text field reaches the character limit prematurely, forbidding her from inputting her last three digits.

Tamamura frowns, biting her lip. Why isn't this working? What should she do? Even though she knows that it's most likely futile, she tries entering the digits in one more time.

_There was an error processing your request. Please call the number 0120-__δ25-3λ9 for further assistance._

She eyes the phone number, and her heart suddenly starts hammering in her chest. Is that what she's going to have to do? Call them? Oh god.

Tamamura takes a deep breath. No, that's okay. She can just ask Naganon. That girl's good with computers. Surely she can figure out what's wrong with the website.

Another deep breath. It's cool. Trying to keep her mind blank, Tamamura gets up from her seat and walks over to the phone. It's one of those new handset phones— the ones with no cords. Naganon had gotten this for Tamamura last Christmas.

_"And now you can talk to people all sorts of new people!" exclaimed Naganon, presenting the new phone._

_"Ha…That's, er, great…" said Tamamura, smiling nervously._

_Of course, both of them knew exactly how Tamamura felt about talking with strangers. Getting such a gift from a friend who already knew this might be considered odd, but Naganon is just that sort of person._

Tamamura brings the handset back to her seat. She takes a deep breath. She will just get it over with, then. Sitting up straight, she picks up the handset and presses the green _phone_ button. The speaker begins faintly emitting the ever-familiar dial tone.

About five seconds elapse before Tamamura turns it off and sets it down again, releasing her breath. Um, maybe she shouldn't disturb Naganon right now. After all, it's already six in the evening, and her friend does have a younger sister to take care of.

She looks up at the screen. Should she just leave this to another day?

Shaking her head, Tamamura frowns. No, that's just procrastinating. She'll just think of this as an opportunity to improve herself. It's just a phone call, right? It's a phone call for assistance.

She just needs to get in, ask for what she needs, and get out again. As simple as that. She'll say, "I'm trying to buy a book using my debit card, but I keep getting this error." Right, like that.

Tamamura pinches her cheek. Okay, start.

She stares at the phone for 30 seconds.

That's fine. She's just preparing herself. It's not an examination, so it's not like there's a time limit. She can take all the time that she needs.

Another minute passes.

She can do this. Right. Simple. Just… talk. Talk.

Five minutes pass.

She's taking too long! Okay, what would Naganon say? That girl would probably just find this whole thing hilarious.

Tamamura grits her teeth. She's thinking too much. Don't dwell on the specifics, and just get on with it! She just needs to dial the numbers mindlessly, and throw herself into the conversation.

Hands shaking, she punches in the number, one at a time, trying to keep her mind blank.

_0... _

_1... _

_2... _

_0..._

_δ... _

_2... _

_5... _

_3... _

_λ... _

_9..._

Tamamura takes several quick breaths. That's all of them. She entered them all correctly, right? It would be horrible if she accidentally dialed the wrong number.

Her heart pounds in her ears. The sound of the dialing tone is wreaking havoc on her nerves. When are they going to pick up? What if she dialed the wrong number?

"_Hello, and welcome to Daiku Banking,_" says a female voice. "_Please describe, in a few words, the purpose of your call today._"

The voice sounds oddly artificial.

Tamamura clutches her throat, taking a deep breath in relief. It's just a robot! It's okay! It's okay! She doesn't think she's ever felt this relieved in her life.

Her blood is going pitter-pitter-pitter in her head like a rapidly dripping faucet. She feels dizzy. Her face feels like it's covered in sweat. "Ugh..." She puts her hands on her face. She actually started hyperventilating just a moment ago! Who does that?

Anyway, she's much calmer now, knowing that she's currently conversing with a robot. "Debit card number," she says into the phone.

A second passes. "_Sorry, didn't quite catch that_," says the voice. "_Could you please repeat that?_"

"Debit card number," she says, enunciating slowly and carefully.

Another second passes. "_Sorry, let's try this again. If you want..._" The automated voice gives a list of options, none of which apply to her current situation. "_...and if you want to talk to a live representative, say 'representative'_."

Tamamura's heart leaps into her throat. But this is her only option, isn't it? None of the other options applied to her situation, and she doesn't think that any of the automated systems can resolve her issue with the website error.

"Uh..." Tamamura did not know that her heart rate could shoot up this quickly. It went from rest to maximum in less than a second. "Re... representative."

A second passes.

"_Sorry, didn't quite catch that_," says the voice.

Tamamura releases a breath she didn't realize she was holding.

"_Let's try this again. If you want to take out a mortgage plan, say 'mortgage', or press 1. If you want to see your account and balance, say 'account', or press 2. For our regular business hours, say 'hours', or press 3. To find a location near you, say 'location', or press 4. If you want to change your personal account information, say 'personal', or press 5. If you want to talk to a live representative, say 'representative', or press 6._"

Her finger shakes, hovering over the 6. She grits her teeth and presses it. Her heart rate shoots up again. Blood pounds in her ears. She can feel her face getting flushed.

"_Connecting..._"

And then there's a click. "Hello, Daiku Banking customer service, how may I help you?" asks a female voice. The woman's words are fast and self-assured. This woman has probably been through thousands of similar phone calls in the past, so she sounds like she knows exactly what she's doing. Very quick and efficient.

"Uh..." Tamamura has frozen. Her heart rate is too high. She feels light-headed and dizzy, and she thinks that she may actually black out at any moment.

"Hello?" asks the female voice. "Hello, how may I help you?"

Why can't she say anything? Why can't she get the words out? She's shaking. The room is whirling around her and she's starting to feel disconnected from her body.

Why can't she say anything?

The phone drops onto the carpet.

"Hello, are you there?" asks the muffled voice from the phone.

Tamamura bends down and ends the call. She clutches her heart, gasping. She's finally breathing again. The phone lies face-up on the ground. She stares at it.

There must be something wrong with her.

* * *

Tamamura stands in front of the local Daiku Coffee with a determined expression. She had walked by the store several times in the past, never seriously considering the "help wanted" sign posted on the front window. Until now.

A cashier is the best kind of job to practice these kind of skills, Naganon had once said.

Daiku Coffee is a relatively new offshoot from Daiku Industries, so there hasn't been much talk about working for these new establishments. But they do have a website, and Tamamura has spent most of last night reading about what they're looking for in prospective employees. She filled out her _rirekisho_, her Japanese resume, trying to emphasize skills that are relevant to this job.

Tamamura holds her hand up to the door. They say that you're more impulsive when sleep-deprived. Well, she stayed up into the night to finish the resume. That's fine. She needs to be a little impulsive today.

She walks into the establishment and goes up to the counter before starting to speak. "Um. Hello. May I apply for a job?"

* * *

Tamamura honestly cannot believe that she got the job. She had been under the impression that she had been extremely awkward throughout the interview. Or maybe it just seemed that way from her point of view.

Wait, now isn't the time to be mulling it over. She's on the phone!

"The first day of training will begin at 4 pm tomorrow, and should last about four hours," says the voice on the phone.

"I-I understand," says Tamamura, snapping her attention back to the conversation. She jots down the information.

"The training will take course over the next two weeks, so try to avoid any commitments that will interfere with the schedule."

"Sorry, the schedule?"

"We'll discuss that on the first day."

"Er... is the training on weekends, too?"

"If you want, we can do it like that. It'll finish faster."

"Um... no, it's fine."

"Very well. Tomorrow, then."

The phone clicks. Tamamura sets down the phone and takes a deep breath. That conversation went a lot better than that time with the customer support for Daiku Bank. She pats her cheeks. It looks like those sleepless nights weren't for naught after all. She had been terrified at the prospect of having to hold another conversation on the phone, so in a fear reflex, she had gone through lots and lots of nightmarish scenarios in her mind. And that had, for some reason, bolstered her confidence in the real thing.

Image training or something? Anyway.

She looks at the calendar. She had submitted her application on Tuesday, and she just got the phone call today, on Thursday. That went much faster than she had expected.

It's fortunate that the schedule doesn't conflict with the Daifuku Fair.

She buries her face in her palms. Wait, what has she done? What was with that impulsive move just now? That isn't like her!

She peeks out from behind her fingers at her calendar. Well... That's not necessarily a bad thing.

* * *

"Yeah, actually, Daiku Coffee is still pretty small, and we're rather short on employees," says the manager, putting his hands on the desk.

_So I got lucky_, thinks Tamamura, pressing her lips together.

"Let's get started, then," he says, pulling out the envelope. "First, you need to fill out these forms."

_Forms. I can do those._ There are several.

"Just, you know, for taxes and what not."

Tamamura nods without looking away from the paper. She's already filling out the first one.

"After this, we'll discuss policy, and then your training schedule."

"Okay," says Tamamura.

* * *

The training takes up a good chunk of her day, but it's reasonable. She's still getting her school work done. Luckily, she only needs to attend these sessions on weekdays, so she can still help Nakanojou-san with the Daifuku Fair.

Today she learned about drinks. There are a lot to memorize, but she's okay with memorization. It shouldn't take too long to learn. There are terms whose meanings aren't immediately obvious, though. For example, _solo_ and _doppio_ are a single shot and double shot, respectively.

"Ah, it's Italian!" the manager had said in response to her question.

"Um... What if people don't understand the meaning?" Tamamura had asked.

"Oh, Daiku Coffee is supposed to be classy. It's the hallmark of any successful coffee enterprise, so everyone should know what we're talking about."

Tamamura had looked around at the empty store at this point. She added a nervous laugh.

There are a lot of names. Espresso. Frappuccino. Um. Either there aren't a lot of names, or she's forgetting a lot.

But that's fine. She has the menu list with her, and she can study it just like she would with any other school subject. But before that, she needs to study for the math quiz tomorrow. Quizzes in university are infrequent and take up a good chunk of her final mark, so she needs to do well.

When she gets home?

Wait, where is she right now?

Tamamura opens her eyes, blinking sleepily. The sky outside is a bright orange-red. The train car is sparsely populated. She has this whole bench to herself.

She missed her stop, didn't she.

She yawns, standing up. It looks like she's going to have to get off at the next stop and take the train in the opposite direction. She trots up to the door nervously. This is the first time that she has overslept her stop. This is the first time that she has fallen asleep on the train, really. She should really get more sleep.

* * *

"Ooh, a coffee girl, are we?" asks Naganon, grinning.

"Um, yes," says Tamamura. She yawns. "I just got my uniform today."

"Where do you work? When are you going to work?"

"Naganon, you don't drink coffee."

"Or do I?"

Tamamura pauses. She actually doesn't have any proof either way. Why had she been under the impression that Naganon doesn't drink coffee?

Her friend laughs. "Just kidding, I don't."

Tamamura looks away. "A...anyway, I'll be officially starting in a few days, but they put me at the register on a probationary working session a few times before. Training, I guess." She yawns again.

"Sleeping well?" asks Naganon, looking concerned.

"Um." Tamamura sighs. "Well, the training has eaten a lot into my free time, and I have Daifuku Fair on the weekends..."

"Ah. I see."

Tamamura suddenly stops walking. "Wait, where are we?" She looks around. "This isn't the way to the train station."

"Oh, we have a little leeway today, so I was thinking of visiting that Daiku Coffee a few blocks ahead."

Tamamura reels in horror.

Naganon grins. "So you do work at there."

"Wait." Tamamura takes out her phone and flips it open to check the time. She stares at it for a while. "We're on our way _to_ school."

"Just how sleepy are you?" Naganon puts a hand on Tamamura's shoulder.

"A coffee couldn't hurt, I guess," says Tamamura, rubbing her eyes.

* * *

Tamamura blinks. It's dark. She pulls herself into a sitting position and gropes for the lamp switch.

_Click._

She squints at the sudden light. What time is it? Both hands on the clock on the wall are pointing straight up. Midnight already?

What had she been doing? Okay, let's see... She had gotten home at about 8 pm and she was going to lie down for a while before starting her homework.

Her school bag is sitting against the wall, its contents unopened.

Tamamura spends a minute taking a few deep breaths in an attempt to wake herself up. First, some dinner.

* * *

Tamamura volunteers to run to Daiku Supermarket to get the missing coffee condiments because the walk will help her stay awake. She eyes the large bag in her hands, making sure that she doesn't drop it. That would be bad. She sighs.

How can she find more time in the day to sleep? She could try doing homework on the train, but she isn't actually on the train for that long—only about 15 minutes. She's also afraid that she might accidentally leave some of her papers on the train. That would be terrible!

Tamamura had never really needed to take naps in the past, but naps now are an everyday occurrence. What is with this shocking change of events?

_Well_... Tamamura thinks sheepishly, looking at the sky. _I suppose it's because I took on two jobs at once._

"Rock, paper, scissors!"

"Okay! Here I go!"

Tamamura looks over at the high school girls to her left. _High school students sure have a lot of free time_, she thinks. _No tuition to worry about. And the tests are a lot less weighty._

"Wait a minute! The rules are that you go one step at a time!"

"I know!"

Tamamura sighs again, then catches herself. _I've been sighing a lot recently. Is that normal? Or do lots of sleep-deprived people sigh a lot?_

Tamamura sighs. She almost drops the bag. She almost didn't realize that she was sighing. It's like she's on automatic. "Wow, that's freaky," she declares.

* * *

"Naganon, can I borrow your notes for bio?" They're in the library.

"Weren't you in class?" asks Naganon, already getting out the relevant notebook.

Tamamura sets her notebook open on the table. "Yes. But I can't read my own handwriting."

Naganon looks at the notes curiously. "Having trouble staying awake?"

Tamamura clasps her hands abashedly. "Yes."

"You started writing the same sentence three times over here." Naganon points.

"Oh. I... huh."

Naganon sets her own notebook next to Tamamura's.

"Ah, thanks." Tamamura begins copying.

* * *

Tamamura is wide awake, and adrenaline is coursing through her veins. She's not very athletic, so she's already out of breath. "Sorry I'm late!" she says, skidding to a halt in front of the Daifuku Fair stand.

Nakanojou-san looks at Tamamura with a strange expression on his face. He's probably surprised at her dishevelled hair and messy clothes, but when Tamamura had woken up at 8:51 am, she had thought it to be important to skip whatever she could to minimize her lateness. She could always brush her hair and her teeth after she got back.

"You're 15 minutes late," says Nakanojou-san without any particular intonation.

"Yes, I'm sorry. It won't happen again." Tamamura bows deeply.

"The Daifuku-kun costume is over in the corner," says Nakanojou-san. He returns his attention to the pedestrians. The man doesn't seem very angry, but he appears to be the stern silent type. Who knows what sort of negative impressions of her could be racing through his mind? Ahh, scary!

Tamamura gets into costume and tries to push away the horrible feeling in her gut.

* * *

That horrible feeling in her gut would return. Her eyes open to a ringing alarm clock that is displaying the time 8:47 am. As a point of reference, her lecture begins today at 8:30 am.

Tamamura closes her eyes. This is clearly a dream. It had better be a dream.

She opens her eyes. Still 8:47 am.

She stares at it for about five seconds. The time doesn't change, and the world around her remains undisputedly real.

She swears—a shrinking violet like her, swearing! What a shock!—as she jumps out of bed, reaching for the clothes draped over the chair in front of her desk.

His commute blurs by, and very soon, Tamamura is standing in front of the lecture room door, panting for breath. The locked lecture room door. She knew that it would be locked, but she's never missed a class before. Ever. She had to come.

She tentatively tries the doorknob. She turns it as slowly as possible so that no one inside would hear the click. And, there's the click. Yes, it's locked.

This professor doesn't let students into the room after the lecture has started.

She paces in front of the classroom, trying to push down that clawing despair in her stomach. How could she sleep through that alarm for so long? Is this a nightmare?

She remembers going through the motions of her entire commute, and it's hard to imagine a dream looking this realistic. She looks around at the hallway. A dream couldn't last that long and still remain consistent throughout. This is definitely reality. It doesn't feel like it should be, but it is.

She sighs shakily. She feels miserable.

Um, she's too conspicuous standing out here in the hallway like this. She immediately starts walking, trying to seem as if she has a definite destination in mind, and that she totally isn't late for class or anything like that.

_I suppose I'll... stay in the library until classes are over._

* * *

"You know what they say," says Naganon. "Miss one day, and you'll be totally lost when you get back. Miss three days, and you might as well give up—you'll never catch up."

"You're exaggerating..." says Tamamura.

"Am I?"

"Yes!"

"Well, whatever." Naganon grins, setting her notebook on the table. "Here you go."

"Thank you, Naganohara-san." Tamamura smiles, picking up the notebook. She sniffles.

"What, is missing a class that distressing for you? I used to miss class all the time back in high school..."

"Y...You're exaggerating." Tamamura opens up her own notebook to a blank page and begins copying. "There's no way you would have been able to get such good grades if that were true."

"Well..."

* * *

This job pays a little better than the Daifuku job—here, it's about 1400 yen an hour.

Her shift is usually unbusy, so she'd be fine. But, if it's a holiday, such as, say, Golden Week, and lots of people come in, she might mess up a few orders in her haste to get through the line as quickly as possible.

"U-Um, we don't have any more regular bagels!" She closes her eyes, bowing. "Would a raisin bagel be okay?"

"...Sure, whatever."

"Coming right up!" Tamamura sees someone walk in. "Welcome!" she calls out.

This isn't as bad as she thought it would be. The people that come in just tell her their order, and Tamamura carries out the procedure in a mechanical fashion. The words that she's saying are just canned, repeated phrases. It's not _real_ conversation.

If she thinks that way, then she can get by just fine.

"Here's your change! Thank you, come again!"

Now, if only she could figure out her sleep problem.

* * *

"Your grades haven't dropped?" asks Naganon.

"No, I'm doing fine," says Tamamura. "I'm hanging in there, somehow."

"How many hours of sleep a day are you getting?"

Tamamura stops walking. "It's difficult to tell... I think I'm getting bits of sleep all over the place, so I'm not sure if I can add it up properly." She holds up her fingers and begins ticking them off. "Um..."

Naganon holds up a finger. "The word is 'polyphasic'."

"I see."

"How's old man Nakanojou doing?"

"It's fine. I don't think that the mascot has really pulled in any more customers." Tamamura laughs bitterly.

"You know, I think you act differently when you're sleep deprived."

Tamamura blinks. "You think so?"

"Yeah." Naganon waves her hand. "Well, sleep deprivation affects everyone in some way."

Tamamura begins walking again. Naganon follows suit. "I've never really seen you sleepy," says Tamamura. "You give me the impression that you stay up late often to finish assignments though..."

Naganon winks. "Maybe I'm just used to it."

Tamamura closes her eyes. "In any case... Aren't midterms coming up?"

"Less than two weeks away!"

"Oh good."

"Sarcasm. That's new."

Tamamura opens her eyes, turning around. "S-sorry."

"No, go on."

"Well, I've caught up on a bit of sleep during Golden Week. It wasn't _that_ long ago... Now is as good a time as any for the test, I guess."

"I see."

"Daiku Coffee is going well. Being a cashier is not too difficult... And I think it has improved my talking skills..."

Naganon suddenly grabs Tamamura's shoulder. Tamamura's head jerks up. "What?"

"Red light." Naganon points forward.

Tamamura slumps. "Oh. Right. Sorry."

"I think you should get more sleep, Enka-chan."

Tamamura sighs.

Cars drive by noisily.

"I've been falling asleep on my feet," says Tamamura. She looks down. "I mean, it's dark in that mask. I'm not doing anything; to be Daifuku-kun, you just stand there."

"Wanna quit?" asks Naganon. "Believe me, fifteen consecutive hours of sleep per day on the weekend is enough to rejuvenate you for the new week."

Tamamura blinks. "Is fifteen consecutive hours even possible?"

Naganon raises a finger. "Experimentally proven."

"By you?"

"By me."

Tamamura sighs. "But I can't just do that to Nakanojou-san..."

"Okay, he just needs someone to work as Daifuku-kun, right?" points out Naganon. "What if I do it?" She grins.

"You're willing to?" asks Tamamura, surprised.

"I'm curious. You've been talking on and on about it for this past month, and I'm curious."

"Well..." Tamamura temporizes.

Naganon pats Tamamura on the back. "Light's green." They start walking. "I have a bunch of things I wanna try out."

"If you say so."

"Then yes?"

"Um... okay."

Naganon raises her arms in the air. "Ha ha!"

"Though... At least let me have one more day this Saturday so that I can let him know."

"If you want."

* * *

"Then, you're quitting," says Nakanojou-san.

"Yes," says Tamamura, hands clasped nervously in front of her. How would he react? Would he be furious? Would he be sad? In despair? This is awfully short notice...

"Well, I appreciate your hard work this past month." Nakanojou-san looks up at the sky. "Though now I have to find a new Daifuku-kun. Maybe I should put up posters. That would also advertise the fair itself, which is a plus..."

No, of course, he's completely indifferent to her quitting. As usual, she worried for nothing.

"Um, actually, my friend is willing to work as Daifuku-kun, if you're okay with it."

"Your friend?"

"Yes, she's coming tomorrow."

* * *

Nakanojou-san looks at the new part-timer. This one is more enthusiastic, at least.

"Naganohara Yoshino," says the girl, introducing herself with a grin. "I hope we get along well."

* * *

_Δy/Δx = Δf(x)/Δx  
Δy/Δx = (f(x+h) - f(x))/((x+h) - x)  
Δy/Δx = (f(x+h) - f(x)) / h  
dy/dx = lim[h→0] ((f(x+h) - f(x)) / h)_

* * *

日常 - nichijou, Arawi Keiichi


	3. Daifuku-kun II

日常 - nichijou, Arawi Keiichi

* * *

"What an interesting idea for a mask!" The new girl laughs. She suddenly blinks. "Hey, is it okay if I borrow it this Tuesday? I have an idea..."

Nakanojou-san opens his mouth to speak.

"No wait, it's okay—I can just borrow one from Drama; I remember something the same size in that room somewhere. I'll need to figure out how to stop her alarm clock... Mn." The girl holds up the Daifuku-kun mask at arm's length and tilts it back and forth, as if analyzing the weight distribution of the mask.

Nakanojou-san closes his mouth. He feels a bead of sweat appear on his forehead. He wishes that this girl would stop talking and just get to the job already. He nervously scans the street. Every moment that Daifuku-kun is not in character is a moment wasted.

"This is pretty heavy though," says the girl peering into the mask. "I'd like to try kendo in it..."

Nakanojou-san clears his throat. "Right. I'd like us to get started."

The girl grins. "Understood." She plops on the mask.

He nods. Good. "Now then, do you understand what to do?"

"Mm," she nods. "Enka-chan told me about it, so I have an idea."

He tells her anyway, just to make sure that it's clear. "I'm going to manage the stand and deal with customers; you should stand in that general area—" he makes a vague motion with his hands "—and attract customers."

"Understood," she says.

"Oh, I almost forgot." This new person seems quite talkative, so he should make it clear right away. "Daifuku do not talk, and so the mascot should remain mute."

"Understood," she says immediately.

"Good." He turns around and slowly makes his way to the stand. It's the start of a new day.

* * *

The next Saturday, the girl shows up in a lab coat. Nakanojou-san doesn't think much of it. It's probably related to her studies.

"Studying biology?" he asks as they set up for the new day.

"No, not really." The girl helps lay out the daifuku on the stand. She is quite precise with their arrangement. His level of respect for this girl increases by several notches. "Did you know that you can just _buy_ lab coats?" she asks.

"No," says Nakanojou-san.

The Daifuku business starts for the day.

* * *

The next day, the girl shows up wearing a black suit and tie.

"Naganohara..." Nakanojou-san rubs his forehead nervously. "Are you on your way to a formal event?"

The girl grins, holding the Daifuku-kun mask in her hands. "Nah. I just felt like suiting up today." She puts on the mask.

He looks over the Daifuku-kun warily. The suit provides a very sharp contrast with the whiteness of the mask. He frowns. But the formality of the suit makes the whole character look more legitimate, so maybe it can work.

At the stand, Nakanojou-san glances back at the Daifuku-kun.

He sighs, pressing her hand against his forehead. It looks out of place. He's getting further and further from his vision of an ideal Daifuku-kun—a high school aged _male_, wearing typical average everyday clothing.

But no, his son is completely unwilling to be Daifuku-kun. He brought up the subject a while ago, but Tsuyoshi rejected the idea outright.

"I'm busy with school," his son had said apologetically. "I'm sorry."

Maybe he'll change his mind when he is shown the majestic beauty that is the Daifuku-kun mask. Yes, he'll do that tonight. And then he can casually work into conversation with this weird girl that her services are no longer needed.

He's pretty sure that she's only acting to fill in for her friend, so surely she won't mind.

"Um," says the voice of a female customer.

Nakanojou-san seamlessly transitions from his reverie back to real life. "100 yen," he says. The middle-aged woman doesn't notice his lapse because there was no lapse. He's simply that experienced at dealing with customers.

"I'll take a couple, then," she says. She looks a bit uncomfortable. She's noticeably trying to edge away to his left. "Um... what _is_ that, exactly?" she asks, hesitantly pointing at the Daifuku-kun.

Even if the weird girl is corrupting the normality of Daifuku-kun, it's still Daifuku-kun nonetheless, and something to be proud of. "That is our mascot, Daifuku-kun," he says as he places two daifuku into a cheap paper food container.

"I... see..." She doesn't ask any further questions.

Hm. He eyes Daifuku-kun again out of the corner of his eye. He'll have to watch this Daifuku-kun carefully to make sure that she doesn't cause the mascot's image to deviate too much.

* * *

Next Saturday, the girl shows up in a safari camouflage outfit.

"Um..." says Nakanojou-san. "Why that... particular outfit?"

"Well," grins the girl, putting her hand behind her head, "my little sister's going camping with her friends this weekend, so I thought it fit the mood! Ha ha."

"Hm." The reasoning of this girl is incredibly frivolous.

"Well, I'll get to work, then." She quickly puts on the mask.

Nakanojou-san eyes the girl warily. With her wardrobe changing every day like this, he isn't sure that the customers will be able to recognize the mascot anymore. Shouldn't a mascot be the same every day so that people can immediately make the connection between mascot and Daifuku?

He sighs. But his son did not seem any more enthusiastic to help out with the Daifuku Fair when presented with the mask.

"You mean this is the mask?" Tsuyoshi had asked.

"Yes," Nakanojou-san had answered.

"Oh." Tsuyoshi had looked away. "I see..."

It hadn't gone very well. And so, it seems that he must stick with this Daifuku-kun.

* * *

The next day, the girl shows up in a scuba suit.

Nakanojou-san swallows nervously. He sighs. He turns away. He doesn't even ask.

* * *

It's an average Sunday afternoon. The sun is shining. The air is comfortably cool. At the moment, a young girl dressed in denim is walking along the street.

_Wh... What the hell is that!? _The denim girl backs away slowly. It's like some sort of faceless white monster. No, even worse than that. It's wearing some sort of dark creepy skin-tight suit thing that's covering its entire body. The thing turns its head her way and suddenly, the denim girl can feel cold sweat forming on her back.

_It... It's looking my way!_

She trembles. She wants to turn around and run away, but she can't.

Her mind races, trying to think of what to do in this situation. She could call for help, but doing that might aggravate whatever THAT is and provoke it into attacking. She could walk away, but the moment she turns her back to whatever THAT is, she'll be vulnerable and unable to defend herself. She doesn't think that she could outrun whatever THAT is, and it certainly looks agile enough to weave through the pedestrians to quickly latch onto its prey without difficulty.

The girl's throat is parched. She wants to swallow, but she's frozen, so she can't. It feels like an hour has passed while in reality, it has been only seconds.

_What do I do!?_

She can't think of anything, so she just stands like that, staring into the soulless eyeless face of that whatever THAT is.

And then suddenly, its attention is diverted. The old man at the stand is saying something, and that whatever THAT is turns to listen.

The denim girl's body is soaked in sweat now, but she still can't bring herself to move. In less than a fraction of a second, it could return its attention to her, and if it sees that she has moved...

_Come on, move! While it's distracted, move! This is life or death!..._

She takes a step backwards. Her movement is stiff and shaky. She takes another step. She starts getting into the rhythm, and it's easier to keep going now.

After taking enough steps backwards that she feels that she's at a safe distance, and making sure that whatever THAT is still has its attention on the old man, she turns around and runs for her life.

Needless to say, she'll never be going down this street again.

* * *

Yoshino walks merrily along the hallway towards her classroom, handbag swinging, almost as if she's not one hour late for her physics midterm.

_My, my, and it's worth 20% of my final mark, too,_ thinks Yoshino. _I suppose it's not surprising that Mio sabotaged my alarm clock in retaliation for my prank last week. But to have disabled my secondary and tertiary alarms, too! She must have put a lot of work into this._ She takes out her phone from her pocket. _The thing that most concerns me is how she managed to get my phone passcode—5059. I haven't written it down anywhere._ She shakes her head. _I'll have to change it. But later._

She rounds a corner. From here, it's just two more turns, a short walk, and then she'll arrive at her classroom. She stops just around the corner to take the items that she needs for her test out of her handbag. This includes a pencil, eraser, a calculator, and her student ID card.

She squeezes the items into her pocket and then leaves the bag in the hallway for someone else to find and take to the lost and found. It's fine. There's nothing valuable in her bag anyway. Except maybe her cell phone and her wallet. But it's not like there's much money in there, anyway. Well, except for the 2000 yen she took from Mio last week. But no big deal.

Just before she starts heading for her classroom, still a ways down the hallway, she takes one last item out of her bag: a key. This key is a copy that she made of the original when it came into her possession after she got roped into doing some administrative work a while back. (She just couldn't resist taking advantage of the situation! Wink. Ah, she'll give it up later.)

Humming merrily, she walks up to the back door of the classroom and unlocks it soundlessly. After waiting a moment, she opens it a crack. She takes off her hair tie and flips around so that the underside is facing up. She sticks it through the gap in the door and uses the mirror on the underside to take a quick look around the classroom. Her field of view quickly pans over to the physics professor, who's writing something on the board.

There don't appear to be any other teachers in the room—any that are looking her way, in any case. Quickly, soundlessly, she whips open the door and steps inside, turning around so that she's facing the door. With apparently practiced ease, she shuts the door soundlessly and then proceeds to begin walking backwards towards her seat.

Her eyes remain locked onto her professor. Her motion in his peripheral vision probably catches his attention because he turns around before Yoshino can get very far. Yoshino begins reversing the direction of her motion as soon as she sees his head first begin to move, and so when the professor has finished turning around to look at her, she's walking forward.

"Naganohara!" he says sternly. "Where are you going?"

"The washroom," Yoshino says sheepishly.

"You know our policy on washrooms during tests. Be grateful that I don't give you a zero right now for getting up without permission. Back to your seat."

"Yes," says Yoshino, walking back to her seat. "Sorry about that, sir."

"Hmph," mutters the professor. "Kids these days. Don't even know how to properly control their bladder..." And a few more muttered words. He turns around and resumes writing on the board.

Tamamura shoots Yoshino a concerned glance. Yoshino smiles, but breaks eye contact. It's an exam, after all. Tamamura knows this, and so she turns her eyes back down to her paper. Yoshino seats herself down at an unoccupied test paper.

Several students had been watching as Yoshino entered the room, and Yoshino saw them see her, but they aren't doing anything about it. Yoshino has become somewhat notorious for sneaking into class nowadays, and so no one seems to be particularly keen on saying anything about it.

'Notorious', but she's only done it a couple of times before. Really. It's not _that_ bad.

_All right then, exam, exam_, thinks Yoshino, setting all of her tools onto the table. She flips through the booklet and quickly finds out that it's a 80 question test, multiple choice.

But there's something strange. All of the questions in the booklet consist only of the question number, and then five possible answers which, on this test, are labelled with a, b, c, d, and e. But nowhere does it actually give the problem that she is to solve.

_Oh._ Yoshino looks up at the chalkboard.

_46\. If a planet has equatorial radius 3.25E6 m and mass 8.51E24 kg and day length 1.29E5 s, find the altitude of geosynchronous orbit relative to ground level._

_47\. Find the semi-major axis of a satellite's orbit around the sun if the orbital period is 1.03E8 s and the mass of the sun is 1.99E30 kg and the mass of the satellite is negligible._

_48\. If f_s_ = 76.85 Hz and v_s_ = +16.3 ms⁻__¹_ _and v_d_ = -5.51 ms⁻__¹__, find f_d_._

_49\. Find the electricstatic force between two point charges +1.56 C and -0.851 C if they are 1.21E3 m apart._

_50\. Find the heat required to change 3.5 kg of water from 248.7 K to 401.8 K._

_51\. Find the temperature of a 5.2 cm radius spherical idealized blackbody if it radiates heat at 120 W._

The questions are _there_.

Her professor has just finished writing question 51 on the far right board, and is now walking slowly towards the left board. He picks up the brush and erases the entirety of question 46, and then begins writing question 52.

Yoshino notices that there's a lot of blank space for each question on her test paper; space that could be used for rough work when solving the problem, but now she realizes—space that could also be used to write down the question itself.

The professor erases question 47 and begins writing question 53.

_Okayyy_. Yoshino's smile is not nearly as carefree as before. _This should be interesting._

* * *

"I'll have a coffee, Enka-chan," says Yoshino, facing the counter with a smile.

"Er... please be more specific," says Tamamura.

"So, sizes, huh. Okay, I'll have this size—" Yoshino points. "—and hm... just the single shot of caffeine, then."

"So one short espresso," says Tamamura. "Will that be all?"

"Wait, what does coffee taste like?" Yoshino scrutinizes the menu. "If it's bitter, that would make for an interesting tasting experience, but..."

"They're quite bitter, Naganon."

"Okay then, can you add like 15 sugars?"

"Um... There's actually a self-serve station with condiments over there," says Tamamura, turning her head to her right, "so you can add as many sugars as you wish."

"Ahh, I see."

"So, will that be all?"

"Sure."

Tamamura busies herself with grabbing the most recently brewed pot of coffee and pouring it. "Are you doing all right?" she asks.

"Why wouldn't I be doing all right?"

"Naganon," says Tamamura, staring levelly into Yoshino's eyes. "That physics midterm... Did you oversleep? You missed more than half of the questions! Aren't you worried?"

Yoshino smiles, looking awkwardly to the side. "Well, maybe a bit."

Tamamura blinks. "Wait, really?"

Yoshino stares blankly at Tamamura. "Why do you sound so surprised?"

"Wow, I really was right," says Tamamura, flustered. "Actually, I was just guessing earlier. I'm not really very good at reading people..."

"Well, it's not like it's worth much anyway." Yoshino closes her eyes, smiling faintly. "As long as I do well on the final, there's nothing to worry about."

Tamamura sighs. "You'll do to be more punctual next time."

"It wasn't really my fault..." Yoshino scratches her head with a sheepish look on her face. "So, how's the coffee store doing? It looks very empty to me."

"You're changing the topic." Tamamura sets the coffee on the counter in front of Yoshino, then leans on the counter with her elbows, propping up her chin with her hands. "Are you really okay, Naganon?"

"I'm fine," says Yoshino, taking the cup. She turns it around in her hand with a strange expression on her face. "It's small."

"Ehe." Tamamura smiles. "Well, there are lots of sizes."

Yoshino walks over to the condiment centre and begins dumping sugar into the cup. "It's not like you to be so concerned about other people. Usually it's the other way around, y'know?" She smiles cheekily.

"Well, yeah..." Tamamura stands up straight and wipes both of her hands on the side of her apron. "But you are my friend."

"...Maybe."

Tamamura pouts. "What do you mean, 'maybe'?"

Yoshino continues opening packets of sugar and dumping their contents into her coffee cup. "Eh," she grins. "Of course we're friends!" She gets through about ten packets.

Tamamura watches silently. Suddenly, she slams her hands into the counter, her eyes widening. "Ah! I forgot to charge you for the coffee."

Yoshino blinks. A snarky grin appears. "Forgetful as always, huh."

"That's 290 yen," says Tamamura, sweating nervously. She looks around quickly as Yoshino walks back to the counter, but her manager isn't anywhere in sight. That's a relief.

* * *

Yoshino walks out of the coffee store smacking her lips. "Needed more sugar," she says to herself. Looking up, she sees that it's quite cloudy today. She lets out a breath as she starts walking along the sidewalk.

"That was a pretty deep sigh," says a concerned voice.

Yoshino looks up and spots a teenaged girl that looks vaguely familiar. This person isn't wearing a school uniform, even though it's a weekday. She has short dark hair, she's carrying a small purchase bag from a drug store, and there's a strange metallic object sticking out of her back...

Oh.

Yoshino realizes at the same time as the girl does. "You're that girl!" grins Yoshino, pointing at what appears to be a human sized wind-up screw attached to the girl's back.

"Eek!" says the girl, taking a step backwards. She abruptly becomes aware of her involuntary movement and stops herself. "Er, sorry," she says. She looks away. "I didn't mean to say that out loud..."

"It's been a while!" Yoshino tilts her head. "Are you still wearing that strange accessory of yours?" She giggles.

"Er..." The girl shakes her head. "Anyway, you seemed very downhearted to me just a moment earlier."

"I'm not." Yoshino crosses her arms, pouting. "Why does everyone think that getting a poor mark in school merits downheartedness?" She pumps her fist in the air. "What you need to do is ride the curve!"

The girl nods emphatically. She seems very interested. "T...that's the spirit!" she says, clapping her hands together. "If you come across a problem in your life, you mustn't become disheartened! Perhaps you can be permitted one day to feel sorry about yourself, but no longer! After you've moped and you've eaten some ice cream, you must put the past behind you and press onwards!"

"...Sure," says Yoshino, slightly taken aback at the girl's sudden enthusiasm.

"Good luck," says the girl, giving Yoshino a firm look and a reassuring smile before walking away.

Yoshino turns around and scratches her hair. "Huh."

* * *

Yoshino, in Daifuku-kun costume, is standing beside the daifuku stand. _It's starting to get boring standing still all of the time..._

There's a temporary lapse in customers.

"What if we add a little choreography?" asks Yoshino.

"Hm?" Nakanojou-san turns to Yoshino. "What do you mean?"

Yoshino shrugs. "It doesn't really matter." She takes a step backwards, and begins a strange, high-powered improvised dance.

"Interesting fluidity," says Nakanojou-san. Oddly, he feels his heart strings being pulled by watching the absurd dance. This mascot that he drew up from his imagination, moving and alive right in front of him... He grabs a notebook and begins jotting down notes.

* * *

Pedestrians begin noticing.

"Who's that?"

"Is it some sort of dance routine?"

"Whoa, look at those moves! Is that a pop idol?"

In almost no time at all, a large crowd has formed, gathering around Yoshino in a wide circle. Some of them take out their cell phones and stsart snapping pictures.

_Hm?_ Yoshino blinks. _When did all of these people get here? Oh well._ She does a twirl and all of a sudden, the people around her are cheering.

After three minutes, Yoshino starts getting tired, so she takes a short break. At this point, the crowd, which has grown to something like fifty people, cheer and applaud loudly.

"Whoa!" A teenaged girl with short blue hair steps forward, holding out a small blue notebook with lots of other signatures on previous pages. "Can I get your autograph?"

"Sure," grins Yoshino, whisking a pen out of nowhere and walking forward.

"Say, what is this, exactly?" asks the girl.

"Is this some sort of promotional event?" calls a male with a camera from the crowd.

"No, no," says Yoshino, still signing. "I'm just a mascot, Daifuku-kun, for the Daifuku Fair organized by Nakanojou-san over there." She looks over at the stand. The man at the stand, who had been staring stupefied at the crowd a moment ago, immediately regains his composure at the sudden attention. No one notices his lapse.

"Yes," says Nakanojou-san. "It is an event to celebrate Daifuku. Only 100 yen each."

"Ooh." A bunch of people break off from the main crowd and start lining up at the stand.

Yoshino finishes her signature with a great flourish on the integral symbol and then hands it to the girl. "Here."

_Evaluate 2π ∫[0 → 2] ((2 - x) x²) dx_

"Thanks!" says the girl with a wide grin on her face. She turns, looking down at the brand new signature in her collection as she walks away.

"Oh, could I get one too?" asks another person, walking up.

_W...when did this queue form?_ Yoshino smiles cheerfully (not that anyone can see with that whole mask business and whatnot) and quickly gets on with signing as quickly as possible.

Nakanojou-san, in the meantime, is also hustling to get through his line as quickly as possible.

They get a lot of customers that day.

* * *

"Mom, why are we taking this street? I thought we were taking the other route. Hey, wait. Mom!?" A girl dressed from head to toe in denim abruptly stops walking, and tries to pull her mom to a stop, too.

"Now, now, what's with the fuss?" smiles the mother. "Word on the grapevine is that something interesting happened yesterday on this street. I'm wondering if it's going to happen again today, so we might as well check it out. It's on the way to your cello lesson, so we won't be late."

"No, no no no no no no no no no no no no no no." The denim girl's eyes widen in horror, and she tries to anchor her feet to the ground. Alas, her mom is much too strong for her puny elementary school tier body, and so all that happens is that she gets dragged along by the arm. "We... we agreed! We agreed that we were taking that other route!"

"Dear, stop that. You're making skid marks on the sidewalk."

"But there's that... there's that... that... white... that..." The denim girl chokes on her own words. She releases her mom's hands and clutches her own throat, gasping for breath.

"I can't very well make sense of your words if you're not talking coherently." The mother looks up. "Ah, there it is. What a sizable crowd. Dear, if you don't want to come along, then just wait here. I'll be just a minute to see what all the fuss is about. I'll be right back."

As soon as her mother releases her arm, the denim girl shoots backwards as if pulled by a taut bungee cord.

"Stay within eyeshot, dear!" shouts the mother, giving the denim girl a stern look.

The denim girl retreats fifteen meters in about two seconds before she skids to a stop, hiding behind a lamp post. The denim girl's mother gives her a strange look before turning around and walking towards the crowd.

_It's... it's... it's... it's it's it's it's it's it's THERE!_ The denim girl's eyes widen and she starts feeling lightheaded and dizzy from all of the adrenaline that has suddenly entered her bloodstream. Sure enough, at the center of the crowd, is that white faceless killer demon whatever THAT is. It's standing in front of a table, and shuffling around some cards.

It talks with the person at the front of the crowd for a while. It then flashes a 2 of spades, and then the whole crowd applauds loudly.

_Just what kind of demonic trickery is it pulling here?..._ The denim girl pulls on her collar. She never knew that it was humanly possible for a person to sweat this much. _It's doing card tricks, but why? For what reason?_

Her eyes flicker over to the cheaply nailed together wooden stand at the side of the crowd. There's a bunch of people there, too, lining up to buy something.

_Daifuku Fair_, reads the denim girl. _Ha. As if. Just how does card tricks relate to daifuku?_ She wipes some sweat off of her face with a sleeve. _No, it's probably some sort of cheap gimmick to pull in more people._ She narrows her eyes.

The denim girl sighs. _Well, at least there's crowd shielding, here._ Her eyes skim over the crowd._ If that thing over there finally decides to go on a killing spree, it'll probably go for the people in front first, and that'll give me more time to escape. I... I managed to escape it once before._

She clutches the lamp post. _No, I can't count on that. It's not normal. What if it behaves erratically? A deviant! _ She clenches her teeth. _It might just go for the people in the back first, just for the hell of it. That would put me at the very forefront of its killing list!_

She takes a step backwards. _Shit, shit. As I thought, even with all of these people here, it's not even remotely safe. I'm leaving._ She turns around and sprints away.

"Hey!" It's her mom's voice. "Where are you running off to?"

"I..." The denim girl looks up at her room with a deranged expression.

"My goodness, since when did you get so sweaty? Your clothes are soaked!" The mother looks up at the sky. "We don't want you to be late for your cello lessons, but you can't stay in those clothes. How about we rush you off to the lessons first, and then I run home and fetch you a change of clothes?" She nods. "That's probably the best plan. Here, come along." She takes the denim girl's hands and begins walking along the sidewalk in the direction of the crowd.

The denim girl's nails cut into the mother's hand.

"Ow!" The mother releases the denim girl's hand. "What are you doing!?" She scrutinizes her hand. "You drew blood..."

"Not that way." The denim girl tries to communicate through her eyes to her mother how very important it is that they _absolutely must never _walk that way. Her feelings must get through to her mother! "Please."

The mother stares at the denim girl, puzzled. "Okay, fine."

The mother and girl begin walking the other way, away from the crowd. They're not holding hands anymore.

* * *

Yoshino's class got their physics midterms back. There's still a couple of minutes left before the lecture is scheduled to end, but their physics professor has finished covering the material slated for today, so the students have a little extra time to mingle and get their things together before exiting the classroom. Or, in the case of Yoshino and Tamamura, discuss their midterm marks.

"I still don't understand how you got 65% despite missing more than half of the questions," says Tamamura, a perplexed expression on her face.

"Well, I guess I'm just that skilled," laughs Yoshino, scratching her head.

"That was a hard midterm," says Tamamura, sighing. She flops onto the desk in front of her, holding her test paper loosely in one hand. "I didn't pass this one. My mark was 48.5%."

"Ehh." Yoshino tilts her head. "This is quite difference from high school."

"You should be grateful that you didn't fail..." Tamamura picks up Yoshino's paper and flips through it. "You got perfect for all of the questions that you were here for, though. If you had tried, you would have gotten 100%, easy."

"Well, I was late, so it can't be helped." Yoshino leans back in her seat with a nonchalant expression on her face.

"You... you should try to do better next time. Maybe I should stop by your house to pick you up next time, to make sure that you're not late? It wouldn't be too far out of my way, and—"

"Enka-chan..." says Yoshino, grinning. She puts a hand on her friend's shoulder, laughing. "No need for that, no need for that."

"Hm." Tamamura sets down Yoshino's test paper, but the concerned look lingers on her face.

"Oh, Naganohara," calls their professor in a gruff voice from the front of the lecture hall. "A word with you."

Tamamura and Yoshino exchange a glance. Yoshino sets down her things and walks over to the front.

Yoshino's teachers always told her in high school that the professors in university wouldn't care at all about how well their students do in their course. If a student were to do poorly and then drop out, then so much for the better; that's one less set of papers to mark. One of her teachers would always go on about how in university, her professors wouldn't hunt her down if she neglected to hand in an assignment, and so she'd better get her act together.

Then again, that's pretty much what they said about high school in middle school.

And that's pretty much what they said about middle school in elementary school.

Well, whatever.

There are some professors like that. But their physics professor? Actually, none of them can really tell what this particular physics professor is thinking. He's kind of strange like that.

Like, who even writes the test questions on the board? Why can't he just put them in the test booklets? That's so weird! His eccentricity may be perhaps second only to the legendary wacko of this Tokisadame University. But anyway, that's off topic.

"You did rather poorly on this midterm," says their professor.

"I'm aware," says Yoshino. "I had a bad day."

"You were at the top of the class. Get your act together. That is all."

Yoshino nods, recognizing the dismissal.

The professor begins packing up his things. "Oh, by the way," he says loudly to all of the students in the lecture hall. "The average mark on that midterm was 27 %. Only two people in the course managed to pass, so you should all really try harder." He puts on his hat and walks out the door.

Yoshino turns back to look at Tamamura, who has a dumbfounded expression on her face. She shakes her head as Yoshino walks back up the steps to retrieve her bag. "Seriously?" says Tamamura. She sighs heavily, clasping her forehead. "Why do they need to make everything so _hard_?"

"Well, this is all to fight mark inflation," says Yoshino cheerfully, slinging her bag over her shoulder.

"You are ridiculous," says Tamamura in a bewildered tone. She shakes her head as they walk down the stairs towards the exit. "I... ha. I don't even know what to say." She pushes open the door. "You do know that you passed the test that hundreds of other people failed, and you _came in halfway into the exam_."

"It's not like I'll make a habit of doing that." Yoshino pauses. She looks up, contemplating it. "Probably."

"Please don't," says Tamamura.

* * *

It's recess at Tokisadame Elementary school, and the children are either running around and playing, or sitting and relaxing.

"Hey Maa-chan, did you hear?" asks a boy, sitting underneath the shade of a large leafy tree. "Apparently, there was this pop idol spotted on the market street last weekend."

"Really?" The other boy fiddles with the toy robot in his hand. It's really sunny today, so they chose to spend recess resting in the shade.

"Did you say market street?" A girl dressed from head to toe in denim walks around the tree, leaning against the bark. "No, that place is no good. You should avoid it at all costs."

"Why?" asks Maa-chan.

"No, I really heard that there was some sort of idol there!" The first boy raises his arms. "There was this huge crowd and everything! There was also this street performance on the next day, too!..."

The denim girl's eyes twitch. "I don't know what you've heard, but that place is dangerous. You should avoid it at all costs."

"Is there danger, Osamu?" asks Maa-chan.

"Nah, couldn't be." Osamu rubs his hair. "Maybe there's the risk of being trampled, if there's lots of people..."

"No, nothing as simple as that." The denim girl leans down, glaring into the eyes of the two boys. "There's a dangerous monster thing on that street. It'll eat you if you're not careful."

"Denim, your eyes are scary!" says Maa-chan, cringing away.

Osamu laughs. "There's no way that could be true!"

The denim girl stands up straight again, frowning. "No, I'm serious."

Osamu turns to Maa-chan, grinning. "Now I really want to check it out."

"But if what Denim says is true..."

"Don't be silly! If there's a monster then the police will catch him." Osamu turns to Denim giving her a strange look. "She's probably being delusional again."

"What—" The denim girl narrows her eyes. "I'm not delusional! I'm being serious here!"

"Ah. You made her cry, Osamu."

"I'm not crying!" The denim girl furtively wipes at her eyes.

"Well, what we do in our spare time is up to us, right, Maa-chan?"

"Yes, but—"

"C'mon!" Osamu grins. "Aren't you really curious about what that idol's doing on that market street?"

"Well." Maa-chan looks down at the earth. "Maybe a little curious."

"Well, fine," says the denim girl, turning away. "When that white demon finds you and hunts you down and eviscerates the intestines out of your unmoving corpses, I won't feel sorry!" She runs away, hands over her eyes.

The two boys blink.

"Haa?" Osamu tilts his head. "White demon?"

"Er..." says Maa-chan. He lifts a finger. "That..." He scratches his head. "Hm. Should we apologize to Denim-chan?"

"No, she's always weird like that. She'll be back to normal after a while." Osamu leans back into the tree with his arms behind his head. "Well. If we have time this weekend, let's go check it out on our way to the park."

"Sure."

* * *

It's after classes. Yoshino and Tamamura are in the library working on research-related essays, using two adjacent computer terminals.

"Er... Are you still doing the Daifuku-kun job?" asks Tamamura.

"Well, it is starting to get boring lately." Yoshino smiles. "I mean, there's not many ways to spend eight hours inside of a Daifuku-kun mascot costume. Hm. I did try a few things the other day..."

"Really? Um." Tamamura looks down. "You don't have to do it for my sake, Naganon. Nakanojou-san and I aren't that close. If you tell him you want to quit, I'm sure that he'll take it gracefully."

"Is that so." Yoshino smiles faintly.

Suddenly, a female student with short dark hair runs into the library, out of breath. "Ah... Sorry!" she says loudly. "We need one more person for intramural soccer. Our normal goalie couldn't make it today. Is anyone willing to volunteer?"

"Intramural?" Tamamura asks her friend.

"It's an informal thing," says Yoshino.

"Er..." Tamamura blinks. "Isn't it okay if they just play with less players? If they get an inexperienced substitute, wouldn't that be worse than playing with one less player?..."

"They're unusually stubborn about the 11 player thing," grins Yoshino.

No one is offering to go. The female is looking around anxiously. "Please? It'll just be for about half an hour or so."

"They can't play without 11 players," says Tamamura. "Even though it's supposed to be something fun." She turns to Yoshino. "You're pretty good at sports, aren't you? Why don't you go?"

"I never said I was good at sports."

"Huh?... I got that impression from you, though." Tamamura blinks. "It would be an interesting change of pace, I think. It's only half an hour... It's not like this essay is due anytime... soon."

"True. The deadline's still two days away." Yoshino nods. "Sure, why not. Could be fun."

"Please!" the female shouts desperately.

"Shush!" someone else hisses.

Yoshino stands up, waving. "Hey, I'll go!"

"Will you?" The female bows deeply. "Thank you so much."

Yoshino quickly saves her work and logs off her computer. Tamamura does the same.

"You're coming too?"

"Well..." Tamamura tries to avoid Yoshino's glance, and then looks at the ground. "I... I needed a break anyway."

One key component of productive work: taking regular breaks. The break is a totally legitimate excuse.

Tamamura throws her bag over her shoulder and hurries after Yoshino.

"Quickly! This way!" The female bursts into the hallway and leads them through the hallway and around multiple turns at a brisk running pace. Tamamura is surprised that no one yelled at them for running in the halls.

"What's the big rush?" asks Tamamura. "This is just intramurals, right?"

Yoshino makes a dismissive sound, shrugging.

They burst into the gymnasium. There's not many people here. Actually, there's barely anyone here at all. It seems that the entire gymnasium, which is enormous in size, is populated only by the soccer players who are on the floor, waiting impatiently to play.

"Whoa..." Tamamura stops at the doorway, staring at the enormous room. In the meantime, the female is dragging Yoshino into position and throwing her a random jersey. It's probably to differentiate between the two teams. "It's huge," says Tamamura.

"You haven't been in here before, despite being a student at this university?" An unfamiliar male voice startles Tamamura.

She turns around, blinking. "Er, no, no, I'm not really into sports, and I only started here this year..." The boy behind her looks too young to be in university. But maybe old enough for high school. He has blue hair and a very serious expression.

"You're in the way."

"S...sorry!" Tamamura quickly shuffles aside, letting the boy enter the gym.

"Are you planning on watching this game?"

"Er... yes, I think?..." Tamamura looks around uneasily. "My friend just got pulled from the library to substitute, so... I, er..."

"That would be a better vantage point," says the boy, already walking towards the center along the edge of the gym.

"I... suppose?" Tamamura trails after the boy hesitantly. It takes them a good thirty seconds to walk there. It's quite a large gym.

"What is the event here, exactly?" asks the boy, his arms crossed.

"It's... uh... intramural soccer, I think." Tamamura turns to look at Yoshino, who has put on some sort of gloves, and is currently flexing her fingers experimentally. "It's supposed to be sort of informal. I think..."

"Informal enough that the presence of a complete stranger as a substitute is overlooked," says the boy. "Yet, do you not notice something strange?"

Tamamura looks around the gym for a bit before shaking her head nervously.

"The game is panning out a lot more formally than the circumstances would suggest. Look, they're even doing the coin flip."

Tamamura looks. The female who led them to this gym runs up to the center of the gym to represent her team for the coin flip, whose members are scattered around the left side of the gym. There doesn't seem to be a referee here, so the one doing the coin flip is the representative from the right side of the gym. This person is a strongly built male, and he's wearing a blue jersey.

"Is... it really that big of a deal?" Tamamura blinks. "I mean, sports should be fair... right?"

The female stamps the ground. She turns around, stomping away. The male grins, and starts running over to get the ball, which is resting a short distance away.

"Perhaps. However, the team division is also strange. Take, for instance, their uniforms."

Tamamura looks around at the players. She doesn't really notice anything unusual.

"All of the players on the right are wearing custom-made jerseys, fit especially for them. Even their names are printed in full on the backs. Most likely, they are members of the official competitive soccer team here at this institution. However, all of the players on the left are wearing the same unimpressive red jerseys; ones that can be found anywhere in a gymnasium equipment room." The boy closes one eye. "This suggests that all of the players on the right are incredibly skilled soccer players, whereas the players on the left are inexperienced; in other words, beginners."

Tamamura blinks.

"What are they thinking?" The boy narrows his eyes. "There's no meaning in playing a game like this. Such a game with no challenge does not facilitate training or any kind of improvement. With this kind of split, the red team will be completely overpowered. "

The male player grins, saying something to the female. The female retorts angrily.

"Y...you mean that the team that Naganon joined is going to lose completely?" says Tamamura, aghast.

"If Naganon is the name of your friend, then yes. At this point, I can only speculate on the reason for such a game." The boy's eyebrows furrow.

The male bounces the ball on his knee, and begins kicking the ball towards the goal on the left.

"Are... are the teams really that unbalanced?" asks Tamamura, following the ball with her eyes.

"It's obvious. Just look at the difference in their movements. The red players are chasing after the ball single-mindedly, whereas the blue players are coordinating their efforts and advancing the ball in incredibly efficient passes."

The male from the blue team easily kicks the ball past the crowd of red players to another blue player, who has been running in parallel with his teammate, some distance away.

"Look at the blue players. Their attention is not only on the ball, but also on the placement of their teammates. They size up the current situation and make the most effective pass. It's a team sport. See, they're at the goal already."

The ball is already far ahead all of the red players. The blue player is in his final sprint towards the goal, with no defenders left to impede him, and only Yoshino between the ball and the net. However, Yoshino isn't even in a proper goalie stance. She's just standing there in a neutral standing stance, looking as if she doesn't know what she's doing at all.

"It's an easy goal," says the boy beside Tamamura, crossing his arms.

The blue player kicks the ball with all of his might and the ball flies through the air so fast that Tamamura loses track of it.

And then there's a loud _whack_ and then the ball drops to the ground, rolling away from the net.

"What!?" exclaims the boy, causing Tamamura to wince away, covering her ears.

Yoshino blinks, her hand raised. "Eh heh," she closes her eyes, grinning. "I stopped it."

"Just a minute!" says the boy. "Let's see that instant replay." He takes out a remote and points it towards the giant screen on the wall.

"Why do we have that!?" Tamamura exclaims.

"Look at this. Just as the player began his kick. No—a moment before he began his kick. The goalie began leaping towards the left."

In slow motion, on the giant screen, the blue player's leg begins its sweep and Yoshino begins leaping towards the left. The foot connects with the ball and the ball begins its fast arc, deflecting far left. Yoshino, by this point, has moved two meters leftwards from her starting position, and her raised hand reaches far enough to deflect the ball.

"What an incredible reaction time!" says the boy, clearly awestruck. "It reminds me of the deadly iai demonstrated by the champion of the '05—" he shakes his head. "No wait, this is regular soccer."

Tamamura lifts a finger. "Er..."

"Nevertheless!" He pushes another button on the remote. The replay begins again, even slower this time. "She began her jump _before_ the player began his kick. That means that she anticipated the direction of his kick before he actually kicked it. That shouldn't be possible—" The boy frowns. "No, it could have been coincidence. Nevertheless, it seems that the blue players have noticed the goalie's quick response, and are now noticeably disconcerted by her unexpected skill." He presses the button on the remote several times in quick succession.

The image on the screen quickly cuts between close-ups of multiple players from the blue team. Expressions of disgruntlement are visible on their faces.

"Since _when_ could the gym do that?" asks Tamamura.

"What unbelievable skill," says the boy, smiling apprehensively. "To have selected her amongst all of the people in the school... What are the odds. Now, it's anyone's guess as to how the game will proceed from now on. It depends on what's more powerful: The team play of eleven experienced soccer players, or the individual actions of a hidden genius ace." He wipes his forehead.

"Hey, what should I do now?" asks Yoshino, pointing to the ball at her feet.

"Just..." says the female that led them here, noticeably surprised at Yoshino's skill. "Just kick it as far as you can into the other side."

"Of course, it could have been just a fluke," says the boy.

"Oh, okay." Yoshino runs up to the ball and kicks it with a resounding _whack._ The ball flies into the air at a high angle, bounces off of a ceiling light, drops down towards the opposing team's goal, bounces once, well over the raised arms of the opposing team's goalie, and then lands inside of the net.

Everyone's mouths drop.

"Or not." The boy grins, narrowing his eyes. "Interesting. I'm glad I came today."

"I..." Tamamura stares up at the ceiling light, swinging slowly, well over fifteen meters above their heads. She puts her hands on her head. "Since when was Naganon this good?" she mutters to herself.

The female from the red team suddenly grins. "Yeah! We can do this!"

The game proceeds. It goes exactly as it did before. The blue team members circumvent all of the red players with relative ease, approach the net, but can't get the ball past Yoshino. And then Yoshino kicks the ball clear across the gym into the opposing team's net. _Again_.

It goes on like this for a while.

Tamamura nervously turns to the boy. "Um... You're in high school, right?"

"For now."

"Er... I was just wondering... Why did you come to here today?"

"Actually, I have club activity now. However, it seems that we never do any studying or training in that club." The boy sighs. "So I thought that rather than waste my time there, it would be a better use of my time scouting out choices for my post-secondary education. I am graduating next year, after all."

"I... see." Tamamura turns back to the game. She tilts her head with a peculiar expression on her face. _That's... That kind of thinking... is incredibly forward. I didn't even start seriously considering choices until two weeks before the applications were due._

_The youth today are amazing._

The soccer game continues.

* * *

The red team ends up winning 8-0. All of the goals were by Yoshino. From her net. As goalie.

"You're amazing!" shouts the female that dragged them here. "Why don't you join the soccer team?"

"Nah," grins Yoshino, raising a hand. "That was fun, but soccer isn't something I want to do on a regular basis."

"Ehh? Such a waste! Are you sure!?"

"Er... Yes." Yoshino walks around to Tamamura, who has been watching the surreal scene silently in the background. "Let's go," she says. She grabs Tamamura's arm and quickly leads her away.

"I never knew you were this good at soccer," says Tamamura. "I don't understand why you wouldn't join the soccer team. It... does seem like such a waste of your talent..."

"Is that so?" Yoshino releases Tamamura's arm, smiling.

"Hm... When was the last time you played soccer?"

"Ooh, let me think." Yoshino puts a finger on her lip. "Oh, I think my class had a soccer unit in sixth grade. So in sixth grade."

Tamamura blinks. "Wait. You've never played soccer in more than seven years? And you still—" She puts her hands on her head. "Dear me."

"Is that such a big deal?"

"A big deal?..." Tamamura stares at Yoshino. "Y...yes! That means you're skilled. You're really really skilled!"

"Well, duh." Yoshino sticks out a tongue, smiling. "Is there anything I can't do?" She flashes the peace sign.

"It really would be such a waste."

"Nah, I don't think I'm really cut out for team sports. Or sports. Or extracurriculars in general." Yoshino leans against the hallway wall, smiling.

"Is... You..." Tamamura blinks. "Why?" She looks very confused.

Yoshino shrugs.

"Even though you're that skilled."

"I just don't feel like it, y'know?"

Tamamura looks away, a strange expression in her eyes. _Is she just lazy? Or is she just bored too easily? No wait, that would explain why she wants to quit the job with Nakanojou-san._

* * *

Apparently, one of the band members got laryngitis, and so they ask Yoshino to fill in, since the concert could not be delayed.

She performs splendidly, despite only having 2 hours to memorize the chords and lyrics.

"You were awesome!" shouts the drummer, after the concert. "Why don't you join? I'm sure we could make a spot for you."

"Nah, I'm fine," says Yoshino, laughing it off.

* * *

Yoshino is approached by one of the professors with an offer to be a TA.

"R...really?" she points at herself. "I'm a first year, you know."

"That doesn't matter," says the professor. "What's important is your knowledge. We'll have to give your user account access to the student marking system, but I'm sure we could figure that out in no time."

Yoshino's eyes gain a calculative gleam at the part about the marking system. "Sure, why not," she says, smiling gracefully.

* * *

Yoshino is asked to fill in for a suddenly sick member of the basketball team.

She plays splendidly.

* * *

Yoshino is asked to fill in for a suddenly sick member of the baseball team.

She plays splendidly.

* * *

Yoshino is asked to fill in for a suddenly sick member of the swimming team.

She completes the race in record time.

* * *

Yoshino is asked to fill in for a suddenly sick member of the chess team.

She wins against all of her opponents.

* * *

Yoshino is asked to fill in for a suddenly sick member of the team robotics programming challenge.

That team got the highest score in the entire country.

* * *

At this point, some administration people begin investigating this strange string of sudden sicknesses, which, for some suspicious reason, all seem to occur on the day of a major event.

They eventually discover that those who claimed to have fallen ill on the day of a major event had not been actually sick at all. The string of "sudden sicknesses" was in fact a sequence of coincidentally identical schemes by many different teams on the university campus to coerce Yoshino into participating since, despite persistent efforts, she was still obstinately refusing to join any additional extracurricular organizations.

To the enormous regret of the students, and also several organizers (who were hoping to see some more record-breaking performances), there are no more "sudden sicknesses".

* * *

It is now Friday.

They're holding some sort of student-organized festival on the campus tonight, and so Yoshino and Tamamura are wandering along the crowded paths, perusing the stalls.

"I can't believe all of that happened in less than a week," says Tamamura.

"Yeah," says Yoshino, looking up at the darkening sky. There's a brilliant sunset with bright reds, oranges, and yellows in the west. "That was tiring. I wouldn't do it again."

"Who would have thought that so many people would feign their illnesses just to get you to participate?" Tamamura looks around.

Yoshino raises a hand. "I did. From day one. Totally called it."

"Did you?"

"So totally did!" Yoshino nods.

"Well, I can sort of understand where they're coming from, but to use such lowly methods!" Tamamura shakes her head. "I think I'm sort of disappointed."

"Well, well," says Yoshino, clapping her friend on the back. "At least it was interesting."

"Perhaps."

"Oh! Cotton candy!" Yoshino puts a hand on Tamamura's shoulder. "You want one?"

"No thanks."

"More for me, then." Yoshino runs off to join the queue.

Tamamura looks at her friend's back warily. _She's such a child._ She sighs.

She then looks up again sharply, scrutinizing her friend's movements. _But I never would have expected her to be so talented at... well, everything! Is she even human? I may have unwittingly befriended some sort of superhuman! No wait, that's just silly,_

"So, where are we off to next?" asks Yoshino, already biting into her cotton candy.

Tamamura shrugs.

"Okay, this way, then." Yoshino points in a random direction.

"Hey, is this thing rigged!?" shouts an angry but childish voice.

"No way!" laughs a cheerful voice. "You just need to improve your aim a little."

"It's a shooting gallery," says Tamamura. They walk up to the stand. At the moment, a young girl with brown hair in two long pigtails is standing in front of one of the cork rifles, pouting. She's wearing a pink t-shirt and blue shorts. A cheerful old man is sitting inside of the stand. He's clearly the person in charge of this stand.

"You two! Would you like a try? You get five shots for only 250 yen!"

Tamamura gasps. "Wow! So many amazing prizes!"

At the back of the stand, along several different rows of shelves, there are expensive chocolates, large stuffed animals, colourful metal water bottles, DVDs, camera tripods, binoculars, beach balls, inner tubes, pens, dolls, toy cars, gift cards, and more. It's a lot to take in all at once.

"Don't try it," says the pigtailed child. "He's a cheater."

Tamamura smiles nervously. The child looks like she's still in elementary school. It's hard to take her words seriously. "Would he really?" asks Tamamura. "It's a festival, so I'm sure that everyone is trying their best to have fun honestly..."

"Then why haven't I won anything yet?" asks the child. There are tears in her eyes. "I already spent 1500 yen on it!"

Tamamura blinks. "Er..." She has no idea what to say in this situation.

"Now, now, if you can't land a target, you should let someone else try," says the man, smiling cheerfully. "Maybe have one of your relatives come here to win one for you."

The child pouts. "Onee-chan's too busy with her waitress job to come here today." She looks up at the man, her eyes shimmering. "Besides, it's not like she'd win if she came here. It's rigged."

Tamamura looks up at Yoshino, a pleading look in her eyes. Yoshino grins. "Okay, sir! I'll have a go!" She slaps 250 yen on the counter with one hand while finishing off her cotton candy with her other. She tosses the cotton candy stick into a nearby trash can without moving from her spot.

"That's the spirit," grins the man, picking up the money. "Here you go, five corks."

"Don't waste your money," frowns the child as Yoshino pushes the cork onto the rifle. "You'll never—"

_Whack._

The giant heart-shaped chocolate falls off of its stand.

"Congratulations, you win one chocolate!" The man cheerfully takes the chocolate and hands it to Yoshino.

Tamamura glances at Yoshino and then at the child.

Yoshino bends down and hands the chocolate to the child, smiling. "Here, I'll give you this."

"R...really?" The child wipes tears away with her sleeve. "Thanks!" She grabs it. "How did you know that this is what I wanted?"

"Huh? What do you mean? " Yoshino smiles innocently.

The child stares at her.

Yoshino winks.

The child smiles. "Thanks!" She walks away, clearly happy.

"That was very nice of you," grins the man at the stand. "Ah, it warms my heart to see such generosity."

"Well, I have no need for chocolate," says Yoshino. "Homemade jam is where it's at! Yup." She looks down at the counter. "So, is it over if I win something?"

"No, you have four more shots left. Do what you want with them."

"Really? Cool!"

_Whack. Whack. Wump. Whack._

Four items fall in quick succession.

The man smiles nervously. "That's... that's some impressive marksmanship there," he says. He quickly collects the items and hands them over to Yoshino.

"Yup," says Yoshino. "It's physics. You just have to aim to maximize torque on the target."

"Ha ha," laughs the man. "Physics has never been my strong suit. But you clearly know what you're doing!"

"Yeah, I guess," says Yoshino.

Tamamura stares, smiling. _So, she's good at shooting, too._

"Whoa, that was amazing!" shouts a male passerby. "Hey, could you get that idol doll for me? I'll pay for the attempt."

Yoshino grins. "Sure, why not."

_Whack._

Yoshino hands the doll to the male.

Another person comes. "Whoa! Could you get that and that?"

"Sure."

A third person comes. "Me next! I'll pay!"

This goes on for a while.

The man starts sweating, but he keeps up his smile.

* * *

Thirty minutes later, the shooting range prize rack is significantly emptier.

"Ha ha," laughs the man, showing no signs of dropping his cheerful demeanor. "You're amazing, you know that? You haven't missed once! None of the 255 times that you've shot! Not that I'm counting! Ha ha!"

"Gee, thanks!" Yoshino grins.

Tamamura has been watching this entire time. People keep coming up to them to ask Yoshino to shoot something for them, and since then, that girl has quickly gained a reputation of being 100% accurate with the gun. Tamamura feels that it's bad-mannered to keep going on like this, but a long queue has formed and Tamamura can't find the right moment to get a word in edgewise and the large crowd of people is making her tongue-tied.

In the end, she has to watch this go on.

Luckily, the crowd quickly starts dispersing after all of the good prizes disappear. There's only a couple of people left now.

"Hey, old man," shouts a male university student, leaning on the counter. "Those are prizes back there, right?"

Tamamura turns to the source of voice, confused. _What is he talking about?_

"Of course," says the man. "Anything on these shelves is winnable."

"Then how the hell are we supposed to get those prizes in the back there? It's blocked off! I know, because I take physics: It's impossible for any sort of projectile from a gun to hit the objects back there from this angle!"

"Hm?" Tamamura squints her eyes, looking through the boards. "That's true," she murmurs to herself. _I didn't even notice those prizes until he pointed it out._

"No, it's possible, it's possible," says the man, grinning. "It just takes someone with a little more skill."

"Skill has nothing to do with it! It's impossible!" The student slams his fist on the counter. "I bet you hid all of the best prizes back there, didn't you."

"Well, of course. The better prizes should be at a higher difficulty."

"It's not difficult, it's impossible!" The student suddenly blinks. "Hey, we have to shoot from here, right?"

"Of course. That's the rules. You're forbidden from shooting anywhere other than right there, in front of the counter."

"Then it's impossible!"

"It's possible," says Yoshino.

"Huh!?" Both the man and the student turn to look at Yoshino. She licks her lips, grinning.

"No matter how talented you are," says Tamamura, "I can't see you getting a shot in there from this angle." She sighs. _No matter how you look at it, those prizes in the back have to be in storage, perhaps meant to be kept in reserve for another day. They probably aren't meant to be won._

"Anyone can do it," says Yoshino as she licks her finger and sticks it up in the air, closing her eyes. She takes a few steps backwards.

"Naganon..."

Yoshino sticks a cork in the rifle, aims almost vertically, and then fires.

"Eh...ehh!?" Tamamura blinks. "What are you doing!? That—"

Yoshino's already sticking a second cork into the rifle, closing one eye, and then aiming the rifle at a 45 degree angle.

She shoots. The cork flies into the sky and then, in midair, collides with the first cork as it falls from above. The second cork flies back along a deflected trajectory, and hits one of the "impossible" targets from behind. The item teeters, and then falls onto the ground with a subdued _plop._

Everyone gapes.

_Naganon, no one can do that._ Tamamura closes her eyes, smiling sadly.

"Er." The student stares.

The man coughs awkwardly. He slowly gets up, picks up the item, and hands it to Yoshino. "You... I... Just take it."

There's a long pause.

Yoshino glances over the prize, which is in a nicely wrapped box. "Hm, it's a pretty nice cell phone," smiles Yoshino, apparently oblivious to the tense atmosphere. "Maybe I'll save it for Mio's birthday or something." She stretches. "Ahh, that was fun!"

There's a long pause. The only sound is the background chatter of the people walking by in the background.

"Naganon, let's go check out another place," says Tamamura, grabbing onto Yoshino's arm and dragging her forward, smiling nervously.

"Oh, sure."

As they walk away, Tamamura turns back and mouths a silent "sorry" to the vendor.

* * *

The sun has set now. As you look upwards, the sky in the west slowly darkens from bright blue to orange to yellow to red. All of the lights at the festival are slowly lighting up, one by one.

Tamamura and Yoshino are walking side by side at a leisurely pace. Tamamura is currently in the process of eating takoyaki very slowly. She bought the small box of octopus balls over half an hour ago, and so far she's only eaten four. She's savoring it.

Yoshino, on the other hand, is currently in the process of eating her seventh cotton candy of the hour.

"Mm!" says Yoshino.

"You really are just like a child," says Tamamura, looking over at her friend. "Haven't you had too much sugar?"

"Nah, it's still okay." Yoshino takes another bite.

They walk for a while, not going anywhere in particular.

"You're..." Tamamura pauses.

"Hm?"

"You're a bit different... than I had imagined." She tilts her head. "Um... I mean... is it possible for someone to be _that_ good at so many things?"

Yoshino laughs. "Maybe I'm just naturally talented," she says, winking.

Tamamura looks down. "...Perhaps. Though I still don't understand why you're only in one club."

Yoshino stops in her tracks, smiling. "What, if you were gifted at everything, then you would join _all the clubs_?" She raises the hand that's holding the cotton candy.

"It... It would be a waste otherwise, right?"

"There are only so many hours in a day." Yoshino smirks. "You of all people should know. Why did you quit your job at Daifuku Fair in the first place?"

"Oh. I see." Tamamura hastily jabs another octopus with the toothpick and puts it into her mouth. She chews quickly.

Yoshiko chuckles merrily, twirling her cotton candy.

"Nevertheless," says Tamamura, looking up at the darkening sky. "I've never seen a goalie score a goal across the field from their own net. That was really unbelievable."

"Mm. So I've been told."

"It's sort of strange. Usually that kind of genius would be surrounded by people."

"That sounds like a pain. What if that genius needed to go somewhere? Then everyone would be in the way."

"Well, maybe..." Tamamura fidgets. "But I've noticed that you don't really socialize much at all."

"I'm talking to you now, right?"

"Well... er... I meant other people."

"Who's to say I don't?"

"Er..." Tamamura blinks. "Do you?"

Yoshino looks up. "Not really."

Tamamura nods, looking forwards. "I... I sort of had that impression. When someone approaches you in class, you usually end the conversation as soon as possible."

"Do I? Are you that observant?"

"..." Tamamura looks away. "Uh... shy people in general are more observant, aren't they?..." She turns to Yoshino. "And, you always turn down invitations to hang out, or to parties."

"Of course. I don't really have an interest in that sort of thing." Yoshino looks to the side. "So boring."

"...Why do you only hang out with me?" Tamamura murmurs, looking at the ground.

"Hmm." Yoshino nibbles the last of the cotton candy off of the stick and then she throws it towards a nearby trash bin, about six meters away. It misses. She pauses for a moment, as if considering leaving it.

"Naganon, go pick it up."

"Of course." She runs over to properly dispose of her trash. After finishing, she comes back, dusting off her hands.

* * *

Yoshino grabs her phone from her bedside table, grabs her handbag, and then begins for her door. The calendar catches her eye as she walks past. _Uwah. It's the twelfth!? I completely forgot that I had a kendo tournament today._ Yoshino looks around. _I was going to tell Nakanojou-san that I was quitting after today was over..._

She checks Mio's room, but it's empty. She walks downstairs and into the living room. She sighs with relief when she spots her little sister reading a newspaper on the couch. "Thank goodness, you're still here..."

"Huh? Sister, what's up?"

"Something came up," Yoshino says, smiling. She remembers the flyer with directions in her bag. She pulls it out and holds it out to Mio. "Could you help out the Neighborhood Association today?"

"Eh? Get mom to do it."

"Mom's playing sepak takraw with her friends. And besides, they said that they'd pay 10,000 yen!"

"That much money, huh..." Mio accepts the sheet of paper.

* * *

_f(x) = xⁿ ;_

_dy/dx = lim[h→0]_ _((f(x+h) - f(x)) / h)  
_= _lim[h→0]_ ((x + h)_ⁿ_ \- x_ⁿ_) / h)  
_= lim[h→0] ((xⁿ + nxⁿ⁻¹h + ... + nxh ⁿ⁻¹ + hⁿ) - xⁿ) / h)  
= lim[h→0] (nxⁿ⁻¹h + ... + nxh ⁿ⁻¹ + hⁿ) / h)  
= lim[h→0] (nxⁿ⁻¹ + ... + nxh ⁿ⁻__²__ \+ hⁿ⁻¹)  
= nxⁿ⁻¹ + ... + 0 + 0  
= nxⁿ⁻¹_

* * *

日常 - nichijou, Arawi Keiichi


	4. Daifuku-kun III

日常 - nichijou, Arawi Keiichi

* * *

Mio's day is off to a _great_ start.

Not only did her alarm clock stop in the middle of the night, but her mom also happens to be out that morning, thus unable to wake Mio up at the designated 7 am, thus making Mio late for school.

To make things worse, her older sister stops Mio during her frantic run to school, does some stupid prank, steals 2000 yen, and then reveals herself to be responsible for stopping the alarm clock.

Well, Mio manages to ditch her sister and resumes her sprint to school, but then these police cars pulls up in the middle of the road, blocking her route, _moments_ before she would have made it by.

Had she been only one minute earlier, she would have made it through just fine, and her route would not have been blocked off.

"Sorry, about this," one policeman explains to her. "We're in the middle of recapturing an escaped convict, so it's dangerous here. We're cordoning off the perimeter, so I'm afraid you'll have to take the long way around."

And so Mio runs the long way around, alongside the river. Because her vision is beginning to haze over from the intense physical exertion, she doesn't even see the bicycle coming until she collides with it. She flies into the air, lands on the sloping river bank, and because her body is numb from the collision, she can't stop herself from rolling down the hill and into the river.

Fortunately, the river isn't too deep, and Mio recovers her senses quickly enough, and manages to swim her way over to land again.

"Are you all right?" the bicycle man calls, running down the hill. "You need to watch where you're going!"

Mio coughs. "Yes, I'm all right." She wipes the water out of her eyes, lifting her schoolbag out of the water. It's dripping wet. "Ugh." Then, she looks up, recognizing the bicycle rider. "Assistant Instructor?" From the kendo dojo.

It turns out that Assistant Instructor can't give her a lift to school because the collision had torn off the chain on the bicycle. Neither the Assistant Instructor nor Mio have any clue how to fix it, and Mio isn't about to waste 20 minutes trying to figure it out, so she continues on her run to school dripping wet, her shoes squishing with every footstep.

Even though Mio was supposed to arrive before school started because she's class officer today, she ends up arriving at school 15 minutes after classes have already started.

She then frantically explains why she's late to Takasaki-sensei, almost delirious from how out of breath she is. She's so out of breath that she doesn't even notice that her teacher is talking until an entire minute has passed.

"You don't have to explain why you were late, Naganohara," Takasaki-sensei is saying, waving his hands. "We're having a quiz right now, so you need to get changed right away and get started on it!"

Mio blinks, and then her mouth opens. "Agggh!" she shouts. She slams open the door to the classroom and rushes towards her seat.

"Ah, wait, Naganohara!" says Takasaki-sensei, but Mio's already in her seat, wiping her pencil off on her desk, trying to get it somewhat dry, and then beginning to work frantically on her quiz.

She barely finishes on time, and hands it in with everyone else.

Then, she learns that Takasaki-sensei would have given her time to change into her dry gym clothes and also extra time on the quiz to compensate for the time that she missed. That means she didn't have to do the quiz in dripping wet clothes, and that she rushed the quiz for nothing.

"You can have extra time if you want," says Takasaki-sensei, offering Mio's paper back to her.

Mio gapes, and then her head drops onto her desk with a resounding _whack_. "No, it's fine," she says in a defeated voice. "I already finished, so there's not much I can do anyway."

Takasaki-sensei frowns. "Well, if you're sure." He takes back the quiz. "You should hurry and get changed into dry clothes, Naganohara."

Mio sighs deeply. She slowly gets up and walks to the lockers at the back of the classroom where her gym clothes are stored. She keeps her head down, ignoring the curious and piteous looks she's sure that she must be receiving from Yukko, Mai, and her other classmates.

Oh, and because she sat in her chair in her wet clothes, it's still going to be wet when she comes back.

And all of this just had to happen right after she'd suffered through an exhaustive sleep regimen of less six hours per night every night for the past week. She had been staying up late this past Golden Week working on her manga for that Golden Week manga competition, and she had just submitted it last night.

"Heh," she chuckles humourlessly, walking out of the classroom so that she can change, gym clothes in hand.

* * *

Mio never would have figured herself to be the type of person to hold grudges, but hey, people learn new things all the time. When she gets home, she's prepared a great verbal lashing at her older sister, but of course, that girl isn't home yet.

Mio takes a deep breath, calming herself down. _Okay, first things first. How in the hell did that girl get into my room without waking me up?_ She ponders this for a moment while ascending the stairs. _Well, I've been pretty sleep-deprived lately, so I must have been sleeping more deeply than usual._

She walks into her room and examines her alarm clock. It hasn't changed since this morning. The hands are stopped at 2:03:33 am.

_This means that at 2:03:33 this morning, my sister snuck into my room and took out the battery in my clock._ She opens the back and sure enough, the battery slot is empty.

She goes downstairs and into the kitchen to hunt for new batteries. _I remember going to bed sometime after one o'clock yesterday. But definitely before two. Hm..._

The batteries aren't in this cupboard. Mio closes them and opens the next one. _I think it was probably around 1:10. I was really sleepy then, so I probably fell asleep in less than 10 minutes. That puts the beginning of my sleep cycle at around 1:20._

Mio finds the batteries. Her clock requires one AA battery to run, so she grabs one from the package, slams the cupboard shut, and trudges up the stairs.

_There are multiple stages of sleep, and some are deeper than others. Stage 3 is the deepest sleep. A person in stage 3 sleep is unresponsive to most external stimuli, and this would have been the most opportune time for sister to sneak into my room._ Mio walks into the room, plops herself on the bed, and puts the battery into her clock. _So she must have watched me as I fell asleep, then sabotaged my alarm clock when I entered stage 3 sleep._

_Devious. _Mio's brow furrows. _But how did she handle that situation with mom? Did she purposefully suggest to mom to go play sepak takraw with her friends today? No, mom must have had that scheduled beforehand, and sister scheduled her prank around that._

_No, wait..._ Mio grits her teeth. _Why is my alarm clock still frozen!?_

She takes the battery out of the clock, scrutinizing it. _If this battery's used up, then why is it in the new battery package?_

Mio's eyes widen. _No._

She runs out of the room and comes back fifteen seconds later with the entire package of batteries in her hand. She tries every battery, but none of them work. Mio slaps her hand on her face. _Seriously!?_

She stands up. _I'm going to have to go out and buy some more._ She glances over to her school bag, which is finally dry now. But all of her books are slightly warped now, and most of the tools in her pencil case are no good anymore. _I might as well get some more pencils and erasers while I'm at it..._

_My wallet_, she thinks, staring at her backpack. She sighs heavily.

_She's going to pay._

* * *

"Did you know that if you short the ends of a battery together, it can drain the battery super quickly?" asks Yoshino, carefully hiding the burn marks on her fingers.

"I didn't," says Tamamura.

"I should really have more regard for safety," says Yoshino, stretching her arms.

* * *

Mio's class doesn't really have much homework because they've just gotten back from the break. There's that project from literature class, but that's ongoing, and they have class time to work on that, so Mio isn't really concerned about that.

Her sister always goes to bed very late, so that means if Mio wants to observe her sister's mannerisms in order to come up with a suitable revenge plot, she needs to go to bed later than her sister and wake up earlier than her sister. But she's used to sleep deprivation by now, so she's not really concerned about that.

To compensate, she's moved several hours of sleep from the night to the afternoon, right after she gets home from school. Her sister isn't usually home right after school anyway, so it's unlikely that her sister will find out about her strange new sleep patterns and get suspicious.

Right now, it's 3 am, and Mio is crouching in the dark outside of her older sister's room, listening intently to her sister's breathing. A while ago, Mio would have been hard pressed to hear such a quiet sound, but a week of practice does wonders. Mio carefully records her observations in one of her school notebooks. Well, technically, it's not really a school book.

A while ago, Mio realized that she really, really, really wanted to prevent her... doodles from appearing in a notebook that might be handed in to her teachers or seen by students copying notes. And so to satisfy her urges to draw, she had bought an additional notebook specially designated for doodles.

Although this notebook now has other uses as well, which is always useful for disguise purposes.

It has now been approximately 45 minutes since her sister has fallen asleep. If her calculations are correct, her sister should be falling in the deepest stage of sleep right about now. She closes her notebook, stands up, and rehearses the excuse she planned beforehand just in case her older sister does wake up and ask questions.

_"I have a quiz tomorrow and I just realized that I'm missing an eraser, so I'm borrowing one from your room,"_ Mio mouths to herself. It sounds reasonable enough.

Mio walks carefully into the room. She stands above her older sister and tries to glare as loudly as possible. Her sister shows no signs of waking. Okay, good.

Mio walks over to her sister's desk. She had done some reconnaissance in this room in the afternoons when her sister wasn't home, so Mio already knows where everything is. Tomorrow, she's actually going to come in here with a screwdriver to take out the batteries. She knows that their mom is going to be out two days from now, so that would be the ideal day to enact her scheme.

She smiles. She walks in circles and squares and various other squiggly paths on the floor for a while, attempting to make the same level of sound her manipulations with the clock would make. She keeps her attention fixed on her older sister. Her older sister shows no sign of waking. Mio continues walking around for five minutes.

She smiles. Perhaps a bit evilly. _Perfect._

Her deep sleep stage test was a success. She walks out of the room, carefully leaving the door in the position that it had been in before she entered this room.

* * *

"I couldn't get in touch with you during Golden Week, Mio-chan," says Yukko at lunch. "You went straight home after school for all of last week as well. Were you busy?" She blinks. "Hm... Now that I look closer, there are shadows under your eyes. Are you sleeping okay?"

"Yeah..." Mio's mind is elsewhere. She's looking off into the distance, drinking from her juice box. Though the hours of sleep she's getting should be adding up to a healthy amount, perhaps the strange scheduling of her naps isn't optimal. Maybe that's why her sleep hasn't been as restful as it could be. She yawns.

"It's a shame that we didn't really get to do anything together during Golden Week," says Yukko. "Us three! The Yukko-Mio-Mai trio!" She takes a bite of her lunch. "Hm... hey, are you busy next weekend, Mio?"

"It should be done by then," says Mio absently. "So most likely."

"What should be done?"

Mio blinks. "Ah, nothing," she says, waving her hands dismissively.

"Hm. Whatever." Yukko smiles. "So, apparently there's going to be good weather this weekend. Why don't we go camping?"

"Camping?"

"You know! Roughing it in the wild! Fishing! Tents!" Yukko grins. "We could bring rice and curry, cook it there, and eat it! I've had this craving for curry, recently."

"That does sound fun..." Mio tilts her head. "What about you, Mai-chan? Do you want to go?"

Mai had been reading a magazine throughout the conversation. She looks up. "Neutral," she says.

"That's effectively 'yes' in Mai language!" says Yukko. "Okay, this weekend! A chance to unwind!"

"You're so enthusiastic," says Mio.

"Well, of course."

"Have you been camping before?"

"Yeah!"

"What about Mai-chan?"

"School trip," Mai says, glancing at Yukko.

"Oh, I see." Mio smiles tiredly. "Well, I'll ask my parents for permission. I think they'll most likely be okay with it."

"That's the spirit!" Yukko grins. "Gosh, it's almost the weekend already, so we need to get planning! So, so, I was thinking fishing rods! And rice! And vegetables and the spices for the curry—"

Mio takes another bite from her lunch, then lets her mind wander back to the troubling things that she had just discovered that morning.

She had been listening outside of her sister's room, as usual, and her sister's alarm had gone off at 7:07, as usual. It was quickly silenced, as usual. But then, ten minutes later at 7:17, a _second_ alarm had gone off; one that sounded completely different from the first one. That one was quickly silenced. And then five minutes later, at 7:22, a _third_ alarm had gone off.

It was at that point that Mio heard the sounds of her sister getting out of bed. "Phew, I must really be tired," her sister said. The quiet self-mutterings of her older sister were easily heard by Mio's now well-trained ears. "It's been a month since I've needed my secondary and tertiary alarms. Usually I turn them off before I wake up—" Here, her older sister had yawned.

A secondary alarm? A tertiary? Then, even if she sabotaged her sister's bedside alarm clock, her sister would still wake up on time!

Mio grits her teeth. She's going to have to find a way to work around it. She needs to gather intel. "Hey, do any of you have smart phones?" she asks.

"Hm?" says Yukko. "Smart phones?"

"You know, those new fancy devices where it's just a screen and you touch and slide things on it to do stuff." Mio makes a sliding gesture. "My sister has one."

"Oh, that!" Yukko makes a thoughtful expression. "Of course, I've heard of it, but I don't actually have one."

"What about you, Mai-chan?"

Mai shakes her head.

"Why do you need to know?" asks Yukko. She grins. "Are you thinking about getting one?"

"Are they password protected?" asks Mio. She puts a finger on her forehead, thinking furiously. She's seen her sister using the phone before, so she's sure that the user interface is fairly intuitive. If given enough time with it, alone, she could probably figure out the way to get to the alarm function and turn it off. She's used computers before in the LL room, so she's familiar with how user interfaces should work. In theory. But if she can't even get into the phone in the first place, then it'd be an issue.

"Yeah," says Yukko. She seems quite happy to flaunt her knowledge. "Usually it's a 4 digit passcode, but I've heard of this new-fangled passcode thing for phones where you have to connect the dots in the correct pattern." Yukko makes a swiping gesture.

"I see," says Mio. She's pretty sure that her sister's phone has a 4-digit passcode, so that should be okay. "Let's see... Ten possibilities per digit to the power of four..."

"Ten thousand," says Mai, not looking up from her magazine.

"If you're trying to break into your sister's phone, then brute force isn't going to cut it," says Yukko, holding up a finger. "I heard that the phone locks up if you try more than ten consecutive incorrect passcodes."

"No, no, I wasn't thinking of doing that!" says Mio, waving her arms defensively.

"Is that so?" Yukko takes a sip of her drink. "Anyway, back to the camping plans..."

_So I can't just sneak into her room at night and try every possibility,_ thinks Mio. _Which means I'm going to have to get the passcode from her directly. Asking her would just arouse suspicion, so my best course of action would be to shoulder-surf the code as she's typing it in._ She nods. _That can work. I just need to find a good excuse for her to access her phone in front of me..._

* * *

It's almost dinner at the Naganohara household. Their mom is out late again tonight doing who knows what, so today, Mio is in charge of making dinner.

"Oh, smells good," says her sister, walking into the room. "Almost ready?"

"Yeah, in about five more minutes." Mio lifts up the pot lid to check inside. Not boiling yet. She sets it down again. She walks over to the dining area, stretching. "How's university, sister?"

"It's doing all right," grins her sister as she walks into the kitchen. She walks out with two sets of bowls, chopsticks, and cups, and helps set up the table.

"Hmm." Mio takes a step backwards, leaning against the wall.

"Oh, come to think of it, I have a midterm coming up," says her sister, taking out her phone. "Gosh, it's tomorrow. That came faster than expected. Oh well." She turns off the phone and puts it in her pocket. "What's for dinner?"

"Hmm." Mio looks up at the ceiling lazily. "Some soup today."

"That's going to take a while to cool. Personally, I prefer cold soup."

"You're weird."

"Well, the weather has been getting hot recently..." Her sister begins wandering about the room, humming some tune.

Suddenly, Mio's eyes widen. Wait. Her sister just used her phone right now. Mio had been staring right at it! Why hadn't she been paying attention? Curse this sleep-deprived mind of hers!

She presses two fingers against her temples. She had been staring right at her sister's fingers when her sister typed in the passcode, so she should remember. What was it?... Okay... Okay, it's coming back to her. It was 5... 0... something... 6. No, 9. Is that right? She turns around and heads to her room to write it down before she can forget.

"Ah, it's boiling," says her sister from down the hallway.

"Sorry, could you take care of it?" calls Mio. "I... er, I need to go to the washroom."

* * *

At 03:32:05 am, the door to Naganohara Yoshino's room opens silently. The girl is still fast asleep. In creeps Naganohara Mio, with a screwdriver in one hand and a small pad of paper in the other.

At 03:32:47 am, the back to Yoshino's alarm clock has been firmly reattached, with the batteries successfully removed.

At 03:33:15 am, Mio successfully locates her sister's smart phone. It's lying on her sister's bedside table. She turns it on and proceeds to try and enter the correct passcode.

She tries _5009_.

It's incorrect.

She tries _5019._

It's incorrect.

She tries _5029._

It's incorrect.

She tries _5039._

It's incorrect.

She tries _5049._

It's incorrect.

Mio begins sweating at this point.

She tries _5059_.

Success. She breathes a silent sigh of relief. She glances over to the bed and makes sure that her older sister is still asleep. Abruptly, Mio realizes a potential danger. She doesn't know how the alarm clock app works, so what if it suddenly starts sounding an alarm as a sample?

Mio takes the phone and her tools out of the room and locks herself in the washroom. She closes the lid on the toilet, sits down, and then begins fiddling with the phone.

At 03:38:16, she feels that she has succeeded in turning off the alarms.

At 03:40:05, she feels that she has made sure that the alarms have all been turned off. If the alarms are still on after all that, then whoever designed the user interface for this phone is stupid, and it's not her fault.

At 03:41:47, Mio feels that she has double-checked the alarm app to the maximum extent possible. If she did end up doing something incorrectly, then there's ultimately nothing that she can do now that will change the outcome. She turns off the phone, opens the door, and sneaks back into her sister's room.

Fortunately, it seems that her sister is still asleep.

At 03:42:32, the phone has been successfully replaced in its original position. As Mio begins sneaking out of the room, something abruptly catches her attention. A shadow. Something is casting a shadow in this room. The light is faint, pale, and slightly bluish, but...

Mio turns around and sneaks to the window. She looks up at spots the waning gibbous moon in the sky.

Hm, light. That could be a problem. If there's sunlight streaming through this window in the morning, then her sister is bound to wake up, alarm or not.

As silently as possible, Mio pulls both curtains shut.

At 03:45:02, Mio leaves the room, making sure to leave the door exactly where it was when she first arrived.

At 03:48:12, Mio re-enters the room. She holds the door open, scanning the room, making doubly sure that she didn't accidentally leave any incriminating evidence. The clock is in its original orientation and position. The phone is in its original orientation and position. Mio had taken her pad and screwdriver with her when she left three minutes ago, so there's no way that they can be still here.

Mio checks the room anyway, just to make sure that her memory of taking her tools with her isn't faulty. She glances at her sister. Her sister's still fast asleep, and her breaths are still slow and deep.

Mio sneaks out of the room.

At 04:02:12, Mio sneaks back into the room, just to make doubly sure again that she didn't leave anything in here.

Then, she returns to her room and goes to sleep.

* * *

At 07:25:12, Mio walks by her sister's room on her way to the kitchen. She has to resist the urge to peek into the room to make sure that she didn't leave anything in there, because her checking the room might wake her sister up and mess up her entire plan.

Mio gathers all of her things and then leaves her home, locking up as quietly as possible. She doesn't hear any signs of her sister waking up, so it should still be okay.

Mio walks out into the bright morning, heading in the direction of her school at a relaxed pace. That's right, what should she eat this morning? She had chosen to eat breakfast outside this morning to reduce the chances waking her sister up. Well, there's that new coffee place that opened up recently. Maybe she should try that one out.

Mio yawns, stretching. Justice has been served! She feels like a huge load has been lifted off of her shoulders.

She grimaces. What is with this ominous feeling?

* * *

It might have been karma, but Mio's revenge prank was supposed to be a good thing, as retribution to balance her sister's bad karma, right? What did Mio do to deserve this? That camping trip?

Worst.

Camping trip.

Ever.

* * *

"What's wrong, Mio?" asks Yukko, walking up to Mio's desk. "You're looking kind of glum."

Mio shoots Yukko a glare.

"Ack, sorry, sorry!" shouts Yukko, bowing her head repeatedly. "Sorry about the curry. Sorry about the rice. Sorry about the tokoroten."

"It's fine," says Mio, staring ahead blankly. "I've already put that behind me." She lowers her gaze to the paper lying on her desk.

Yukko notices. "What's that?"

"My quiz." She flips it over, visibly annoyed. "A 92.5."

"That's better than what I got," says Yukko, bending down to take a closer look.

"I could have done better," says Mio, gritting her teeth and looking out the window. "Several careless mistakes. It would have been an easy 100."

"Well, it's only a quiz," says Yukko dismissively, spreading her arms. "It's not worth much. Besides, you're not going to get anywhere in life if you keep getting caught up in the marks." She grabs Mio's head and brings her close, winking. "They're just numbers."

"You're just saying that because you got a low mark."

"So what?" Yukko takes a step backwards. "Unlike you, I'm not moping about it."

"You should really take your studies more seriously."

"And you need to lighten up!" says Yukko, grabbing her bag. "Anyway, see you tomorrow." She walks out the door.

Mio takes a deep breath, and then exhales slowly. She stares out the window, at the bright blue sky and the green leaves on the trees. They're going to be changing to their summer uniforms soon.

She stretches, then slaps herself on the cheeks. Maybe Yukko has a point. Mio stands up, slinging her bag over her shoulder. Okay, here's what she's going to do to cheer herself up. She's going to buy one those mont blanc treats from that expensive bakery that she's always been wanting to try. She should have saved up enough money to buy one, so she'll spoil herself just this once.

They only make ten of those mont blancs a day, but she should be able to get her hands on one if she hurries to the bakery right away. Mio smiles, humming to herself as she hurries out the door.

* * *

Yoshino puts a knight in Mio's mont blanc.

* * *

Mio manages to get her hands on a limited five-per-day strawberry shortcake.

Yoshino replaces the strawberry with a king.

* * *

"Mio." Yukko snaps her fingers in front of Mio's face.

Mio jerks in her seat, startled. She blinks. "Sorry. What were you saying?" She rubs her temple with her wrist, sighing. She feels very tired. Not sleepy, but just mentally exhausted.

"Right." Yukko claps her hand. "So. As we all know, that literature group project is due in a few days. Since we still far from finished, we're going to have to start working on it outside of class."

Annaka nods in agreement, her red ribbon bouncing with her nod. Mai says nothing.

"Whose place should we go to?" asks Annaka.

"Um, preferably not my place," says Mio, raising her hand. "My older sister..." She looks away.

"Your older sister?" Yukko leans closer to Mio.

"Ah," says Annaka, smiling. "You don't want to disturb your older sister because she must have her own work to do."

"Y...yeah," says Mio, turning back. "Let's go with that," she murmurs.

"Any requirements for the meeting place of choice?" asks Yukko.

"Well," says Mio, looking down at her notebook. "If we're still going with the idea with the digital additions, we're going to need a scanner."

"Oh, my dad's apartment has a scanner," says Annaka. "If I ask, I'm sure that he'll let us work there. Unless someone else has a scanner."

"Nope," says Yukko.

"No," says Mio.

Mai shakes her head.

"All right, your place it is!" says Yukko, patting Annaka on the back.

"I can ask him today," says Annaka. "So if everything works out, we can work there tomorrow and the day after."

"Will that be enough time?" asks Mio.

"Plenty, plenty!" grins Yukko.

"O...okay," says Mio.

"You've been kind of glum lately, Mio-chan," says Yukko. She winks. "Don't worry! We're definitely going to finish before the deadline, and then we're going to get the best mark of the class!"

"That's kind of overly optimistic..." says Mio.

"No, you're the one who's overly pessimistic," says Yukko.

Annaka holds up her hands, smiling. "Now, now. It's always good to approach things with a positive attitude."

"All right, then!" shouts Yukko, shooting up her arm. "First after school meeting, tomorrow, at Haruna-chan's dad's apartment!"

* * *

The next day, Mio, Yukko, and Mai head out towards Annaka's dad's apartment. They decided to buy some more supplies, so Annaka goes on ahead first. Mio and her friends get the supplies, walk into the apartment building lobby, and then enter the elevator.

They spend the next five hours stuck in the elevator.

* * *

Mio yawns. For some reason, she feels very, very exhausted. Even more so than before. She's grateful that she finally has the chance to unwind and read the newspaper. A relaxing Sunday morning on her couch at home. It's just what she needs.

"Thank goodness, you're still here..."

"Huh?" Mio shifts her gaze. "Sister, what's up?"

"Something came up. Could you help with the Neighborhood Association today?"

"Eh? Get mom to do it."

"Mom's playing sepak takraw with her friends. And besides, they said that they'd pay 100,000 yen!"

"That much money, huh..." Mio accepts the sheet of paper. _Well, it's not like I have anything else to do. It... it can't hurt to go help._

* * *

"Nice to meet you," says Mio, bowing respectfully. "My name is Naganohara Mio."

"So you're the help for today," says the old man. "You may call me Nakanojou-san. I'm setting up now, so just give me a minute and then I'll give you your task."

"Yes sir."

As Nakanojou-san fiddles about with his boxes and supplies, Mio takes a look around. It's a fairly hot day today. There aren't many clouds in the sky. It's still only 10 in the morning, so there aren't many people on the streets yet.

_I wonder when everyone else is going to arrive_, thinks Mio, looking at the stand. _They're rather late. I mean, the flyer says that the fair starts at 10 am today, right? If the organizers are this tardy..._ Mio bends down, pressing her finger against the wood. _Plus, this stand looks very cheaply nailed together._

"Okay then," says Nakanojou-san, lifting a giant egg-shaped thing from behind the stand.

_Uwaa_, thinks Mio, staring at it. _That must be a daifuku. It's so huge! I wonder if it's the prize for some sort of contest..._ She takes a look around. _No one else has really shown up yet though... I wonder what kind of contest will it be?_

"Your task for today will be acting as the mascot, Daifuku-kun," says Nakanojou-san.

"Ah, okay," says Mio. "I can do that. Is there a costume or mask that I need to change into?"

"This is the mask," says Nakanojou-san, dropping the giant daifuku into Mio's hands.

_Um..._ Mio's eyes widen. _Whaaaaaaaaa?..._

"Though it may not look like it, there are small holes punched in the front, so you'll be able to see," says Nakanojou-san. "Now, you can just stand in that general area as the mascot, and..."

"Um, when will the others be arriving for the fair?" asks Mio, looking up at the old man. "It looks like no one else has set up their stands yet..."

"Huh? Oh, no, it's just us two," says Nakanojou-san, completely unperturbed by the question.

_Wh...what._ Mio looks down at the giant daifuku.

"Wear this, too," says Nakanojou-san, handing Mio a name tag.

"Ah, yes..." says Mio, taking the name tag absently. She stares at the mask for a long time. _Just what... is... this?..._

"Is there a problem?" asks Nakanojou-san.

"Ah... no," says Mio. She takes a deep breath and puts on the mask. She gets it on the wrong way the first time. After taking it off and rotating it 180 degrees before putting it on again, she can see. Barely.

_Um... Hm._

Nakanojou-san goes to the stand. He starts advertising the stand aloud. "Come and get fresh daifuku. Pure white daifuku..."

_I..._ Mio's mind has just about finished processing the situation. _I was tricked!_

* * *

Nakanojou-san thought that he'd teach the newcomer how to become Daifuku-kun _properly_, and so he dons the mask and commences what he has recently begun calling the "Daifuku-kun Introspection Dance". He can't do it as well as the previous Daifuku-kun, but what's important is the passion! This is why Nakanojou-san puts his all into his dance moves.

He has no idea how these dance moves could possibly result in him suddenly being forced against a wall with a policeman aiming a gun at his back.

"Do not resist!" says the policeman.

"Did... I do something wrong?" asks Nakanojou-san. When there's no response, he begins slowly taking off the mask.

"I _said_, do not move—" The policeman stops in mid-sentence just as Nakanojou-san finishes taking off the mask.

"What is it?" asks Nakanojou-san, an unpleased expression on his face.

The policeman blinks. He then quickly puts his gun away, looking embarrassed. "Sorry about that," he says apologetically, shaking his head. "I mistook you for the someone else."

"Oh?" Nakanojou-san turns to face the policeman.

The policeman nods, serious again. "There's an escaped convict on the loose, and we've all been extra alert in trying to find him. He's incredibly devious and unpredictable, and that's why we've been on edge lately."

"Understandable," says Nakanojou-san, lowering the mask. "I wish you success in finding this person."

"Er, here, I have an advisory flyer," says the policeman, handing Nakanojou-san a small slip of paper. "I see you're running a food stand here, so I ask that you be cautious of your surroundings and that you report anything suspicious to the authorities."

Nakanojou-san looks over the mug shot of the convict on the slip of paper. The man in the photo doesn't look familiar to him. "Of course," he says, tucking away the slip of paper into his pocket.

The policeman nods, then continues on his way.

Nakanojou-san plops the mask back on and begins walking back towards the general daifuku fair area. He notices that the newcomer has been staring at him for quite some time now, with a strange look in her eyes.

_Evidently, a good observer,_ thinks Nakanojou-san. _I must be a good example and demonstrate the full range of positive qualities regarding this Daifuku-kun costume._ Then, as if he had never been interrupted, he continues his Daifuku-kun dance.

* * *

Mio tries very hard to turn invisible.

Actually, watching the stand might be even worse than acting as that embarrassing mascot. At least her face would be hidden if she's wearing the mask. Right now, her face is freely visible for all the world to see, and freely available for association with that strange... strange man.

She feels her cheek flushing bright red from embarrassment. _Agh, why did I agree to this!?_

There's a clock on one of the buildings nearby.

It's 9:05 am.

Mio inhales slowly, holds it, and then exhales slowly. She barely manages to resist the urge to press her palms to her face and sink towards the earth. _This must be hell._

* * *

June 12.

Evening.

"What was that!?" shouts Mio. "That was horrible. That was one of the worst days I've ever had the misfortune to live through!"

Yoshino tilts her head. "One of?" she murmurs. "Well, that's besides the point. You're already in high school. An experience with a part-time job does wonders—"

"That's not what I'm annoyed about!" Mio glares. "I mean, what kind of crappy fair was that!? What did you trick me into doing!? A fair? Don't make me laugh! It's a mockery of all fairs! Just look at that cheaply nailed together piece of woodwork! It's barely a food stand! And who ever heard of a food stand on the street needing a mascot!?"

"I understand that you may not have enjoyed the job," says Yoshino, closing one eye, smiling. "But not every job you do will be enjoyable. Think of it as me paying you back for the 2000 yen I—"

"That is not payback!" shouts Mio, stalking forwards. She jabs a finger at Yoshino, glaring directly into her eyes. "This was my money that I earned fair and square and that was my money that you took. This and that are different things—"

"Well, you must thank me for giving you the opportunity—"

"A pretty crappy opportunity! I'm surprised the neighbourhood association lets him sell stuff on the street!"

"You got money nonetheless."

"No thanks to you."

"It's pretty much exactly thanks to me, isn't it?" Yoshino smiles cheerfully.

"That's what ticks me off about you!" shouts Mio. "That annoying righteous attitude! But you're not righteous at all!"

"Please," says Yoshino. "I'm perfectly righteous."

"You're constantly playing pranks with me, and messing with my life! How could you call that righteous!?"

"All of my test answers are pretty right. I got the highest midterm mark in my class, after all."

"Who cares!? I already know how much of a _perfect genius_ you are! If you're so smart, why don't you apply your talents properly instead of just wasting your time on useless crap?"

"No, they're not useless. They're actually quite interesting. See—"

"You _are_ wasting your time on useless crap!" Mio grabs a nearby newspaper and rolls it up. "I know for a fact that you're smart enough to have skipped grades. _Several_ grades! Why didn't you?"

"Mio—"

"Because you like spending your time on useless crap! I mean, what the hell was with the alarm clock several weeks ago!?"

"I could be asking you the same question—"

"Don't play dumb! You knew that I told mom to wake me at seven that day! You knew what that meant! That I had class duty! So why did you have make me _late_!? Do you know how... how... _horrible_ that day was for me, just because of your stupid actions!?" Mio stifles a sob.

"You can never take a joke," says Yoshino, shaking her head. "Mio, not everyone in life is going to be all nice and friendly. If you don't know how to take a punch and roll with it, you're not going to get very far in life."

"Oh sure, so my very own older sister is going to betray me!?"

"It's not betrayal if I'm providing you with valuable training."

"Training for what!? That's bullcrap! You just like screwing with me, admit it!"

"Well," smiles Yoshino. She pauses. "But I am serious about the training. If you can't learn how to take a joke—"

"Ha! A joke! Very funny!" Mio grits her teeth. Her nails dig into the newspaper. "Like deliberate sabotage is a joke!"

"It can actually get a lot more serious than that in real life."

Mio grits her teeth. "It isn't funny! Apologize! Apologize for that absolutely tasteless prank!"

"Perhaps I did take it a bit far," says Yoshino, "but I didn't detain you long enough to make you late for school."

"You set off a chain of events that _made_ me late for school! If you weren't there, I would have made it on time!"

"Now, now, Mio, you can't start blaming others for your own downfalls."

"What downfalls!? That was all you! If you hadn't stopped my alarm clock—"

"So what? Are you going to depend on your alarm clock for the rest of your life?" Yoshino pouts. "If your alarm clock honestly fails, you're going to be late, no matter what important test you have on that day."

"What are the odds of that of that happening?"

Yoshino crosses her arms, looking faintly annoyed.

"Ah." Mio takes a step backwards. She looks away, flushing. "If you happened to have a test on that day, then it was your own fault," she says quietly. "Sister, you're in university now. You're a grown up now. Can you please act your age?"

"Oh, come now. All of the true adults have embraced their inner child."

"What _inner_ child!?" Mio snaps back. "You're all child! What the hell was all that crap with the shogi knight and the shogi king! Do you have any idea how much you're tormenting your little sister!?"

"Is this level of prankery not expected between siblings?" Yoshino frowns. "Besides, it's not as if the knight made you unable to eat the Mont Blanc, or the king—"

"What the hell do you mean!? You stole the strawberry! What the hell were you thinking!?"

"There were other strawberries inside the cake," says Yoshino, smiling innocently. "Taking away the top strawberry hardly affects the fruit content of the cake slice as a whole. Less than 15% difference, I'd say. Besides, if you want strawberries, you should get them from the grocery store rather than from cakes. It's healthier, and since you're getting older and may live off on your own someday, then healthy eating—"

"Quiet! That has nothing to do with what we're talking about! You knew that I look forward to the strawberry as the best part of the cake and so you purposefully removed it to torment me!"

"Mio," sighs Yoshino. "I'm just trying to teach you how to grow up."

"That's just an absolutely horrible justification for your pranks! Admit it! You just get a kick out of tormenting me! You get off on it, you freaking loner!"

"'Get off on it', huh," says Yoshino. "You would know about that."

Mio's face contorts into a combination of anger and confusion. "Huh?"

"You're already in high school now, so you need to grow up." Yoshino crosses her arms. "If you expect to make a living out of making manga, then you need to improve on your skills. Perhaps you are above a considerable percentage of the _bad_ artists suggested by Sturgeon's Law, but you're far from top tier. It is my profession opinion as a _perfect genius_ that the proportions of your characters are off. You need to work on your foreshortening. The expressions of your characters are somewhat bland and lacking. The panel flow is unintuitive at times, and the panel sizing and spacing could be improved upon. Furthermore, some of your drawings are quite anatomically inaccurate and it is also of my professional opinion that the positions they engage in look rather painful—"

Mio's face goes bright red at the end. "WAIT WHAT!?" she shouts, waving her arms defensively. "How the hell do you know about my manga!?"

"Manga?" Yoshino tilts her head innocently. "What manga?"

"Wh...No, don't mess with me! Why do you know!?" shouts Mio, panicking.

"I'm your older sister," says Yoshino, winking. "Why would I not know?"

"Do you not know anything about privacy!?"

"Do you not know anything about the requirements of proper lu—"

"Shut up! Shut up!" Mio turns around, clapping both of her hands on top of her ears. "I am _not having this conversation!_"

"When two people are talking, people usually call it a conversation," says Yoshino, raising her voice a little. "Besides—"

"_Stop! Talking!_"

"Hm, perhaps a lot, but I'm really trying to help you improve—"

"That doesn't give you the right to invade my privacy like that, you IDIOT!"

"Well, okay, but next time, you shouldn't sneak into my room, hmm?"

"Wh...!" Mio is speechless for a moment at the sheer injustice of it all. "How can you say that when _you started it_!?"

"It takes two to fight a war, and since you are the one who continued it—"

"That does not take the blame away from you, who started it! You're a childish, selfish... self-indulged _brat_ who takes delight in the misery of others! How are you in university!? How can you live with having such a twisted personality!? How do you live like that!?"

"How mean," huffs Yoshino.

"Apologize! Apologize for the alarm clock! Apologize for my food! Apologize for... your pranks! Just apologize!" Mio's out of breath at this point from all of the shouting. She holds the newspaper up menacingly, ready to attack.

"Well, okay," says Yoshino, raising her hands defensively. "I'm sorry."

There's a short pause.

"That's not going to stop me from further pranks though so—"

"AUGGH!" screams Mio, dropping the newspaper and pulling at her own hair in frustration. "What the hell is wrong with you!? What the hell do I have such a freaking—" She starts hyperventilating a bit. She clutches her chest and tries to get her breathing under control.

"Come on, Mio, this level of prankery is _expected_ between siblings—"

"Who says!? Who? The hell? Says!?"

Yoshino frowns. "You need to take things a bit more lightly—"

"And _you_ need to take things a bit more freaking seriously!"

"Mio—"

"Just stop it! Just stop what it is you're doing! Do you not have _any idea_ of just what effects your stupid schemes have on other people!?"

Yoshino opens her mouth. "Of course."

Mio grabs her sister by the shoulders, a dangerous glint in her eyes. For a moment, she thinks that she might actually do some real physical harm. Then, she takes a deep breath, lets go, and stomps up the stairs.

Yoshino reaches out. "Ah—"

"Don't talk to me!"

The door slams loudly.

* * *

Yukko's hand has been poised to knock for the last ten minutes.

She came over to Mio's house to play, but it seems that she had come at an inopportune time. She had heard every word through the door. Yukko remains motionless at the door, an expression of utter shock on her face. The silence drags on for a full minute.

"O...kay..." Yukko says to herself, still completely at a loss as to how to react. "I guess I'll go to Mai-chan's... then..."

She stands there for a moment longer before hesitantly turning around and shuffling away, trying to keep her footsteps as silent as possible.

* * *

Mai's playing some old video game on the TV screen, while Yukko is lying on the tatami mats, facing the ceiling. "Aggh," says Yukko. "What a mess."

Mai continues pressing keys on her controller, not looking away from the screen.

"So that was her in that daifuku costume that I saw earlier. I must have made the situation worse by laughing at her. Agggh." She rubs her hair. "What should I do? Should I apologize?"

"Don't." Mai's eyes remains fixated on the TV screen.

"But that argument sounded so intense! I... I have to say something..."

"How do you know?"

"How do I know what? That it was Mio-chan that was in that super weird mascot costume? It's obvious! After listening to that argument of theirs, it's the obvious conclusion to..." Yukko blinks. "Oh."

"You _shouldn't_ know."

Mai's fingers dance around rapidly on the controller. She then sets it down, relaxing marginally. Yukko glances at the screen. Another level cleared.

"Right, right." Yukko sighs, scratching her head. If she apologizes to Mio, then the apology itself will reveal to her that Yukko had heard the argument, and also that Yukko knows that it had been Mio who was wearing that embarrassing mascot costume. That would just make things worse. "Though we have to think of something!"

Mai picks up the controller again. The next level is starting. "For what?"

"For what... Isn't it obvious? We need to help restore friendly relations between Mio-chan and her sister! It's terrible for siblings to be on such bad terms with each other!" Yukko crosses her arms. "We have to do something!"

"The best choice..." For several seconds, Mai remains silent, still focusing completely on the game in front of her. Her fingers manipulate the controller in short and precise bursts. "Do nothing."

Yukko sits up. "Whaaa? What do you mean?"

"We shouldn't interfere," says Mai. "Besides, fights between siblings are natural."

"How would you know? You don't have any siblings."

There's a long pause. The loudest sound in the room are the occasional _clicks_ as Mai presses the buttons on the controller. "You don't either."

More clicking.

"That's not an excuse. And you don't know how bad it is!" Yukko stands up and begins pacing. "I mean, they were yelling at the top of their lungs for at least ten minutes straight! Well, at least Mio-chan was." She stops, putting her hand on her head. "I've never heard Mio-chan that angry."

"It probably sounds worse than it is."

"It was pretty bad. I actually flinched when she slammed her bedroom door. I mean, it was so loud that I thought for sure that the door was broken." Yukko puts her left pinkie into her ear and wiggles it. "I mean it when I say that was _loud._"

"This could be normal." Mai glances at Yukko. "We've only known her for several months."

"Again, that's not an excuse! I mean, no two siblings can have that kind of relationship without it deteriorating completely, right? That _can't_ happen on a regular basis. Something happened to fragment their relationship to this shaky of a state, and we're going to fix it!"

More game controller clicking. Mai turns and glances at Yukko for a moment before turning back to the TV.

Yukko makes a face. "Okay, I know that I don't have any expertise in the area of siblings, but I have common sense! And what my common sense is telling me is that that kind of relationship is really bad!"

"It's a private matter."

"S..." Yukko turns away, putting a finger below her nose. "So what? We're her friends!" She walks up to the window. It's already dark outside, so she can clearly see her reflection in the glass because of the brightly lit interior.

There's another long pause.

"Who was right?" asks Mai.

"Huh?"

"An argument implies a disagreement in viewpoints. Who was in the right?"

"It doesn't matter!" Yukko throws her arms in the air. "Mio! Her sister! Both! Neither!"

"Both and neither simultaneously?" asks Mai.

"Yes!"

"Superposition?"

"Whatever!" Yukko turns around. "The point is, it doesn't matter who's in the right! They need to make up!"

"Interpersonal conflicts are complex and it's rude to intrude—"

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I know!" Yukko turns around, tousling her hair. "I know that it's possible that we might make the situation even worse if we mess around unnecessarily. Aggh... The very least we could do is try to cheer Mio up... But that won't fix things."

"If you're too obvious, she'll find out. "

"Who cares!" Yukko twirls 360 degrees on the spot. She stops, facing her friend. Mai has paused the game some time ago, and she's looking out the window with that glassy expression of hers.

"Subtlety."

"Right, right, we don't want her to find out that we overheard her argument. That would be... well, mortifying." Yukko flops onto the ground, splaying her arms outwards along the floor. "I know that. But we don't need that to be the reason we're intervening. To be honest, I think we've been having a pretty crappy couple of weeks. There was that camping incident and then that elevator incident... And Mio-chan was looking really sleep deprived after Golden Week. She must be pretty stressed out. Maybe today was the last straw." She closes her eyes. "Well, first things first. No matter what means, we need to make sure she gets more sleep. Sleep is always important. We'll have to resort to sleeping pills if necessary. Mai-chan, you have sleeping pills in here somewhere, right?"

"Yes, but—"

"Good, good!"

"Artificially induced sleep does not necessarily—"

"It's better than no sleep at all." Yukko frowns. "Though point taken, that would be sort of extreme. We'll use that as a last resort." She points at Mai, nodding.

"_We_?" Mai blinks.

"Next things next, we need to cheer her up. Food is always good. So for the next week or so, we're only going to go out to the best restaurants with the most delicious food ever! And we'll also foot the bill!"

"It would be suspicious if only she doesn't—"

"Right, right, so we'll take turns on covering the entire bill. I'll do it one day and then you the next and then me the day after—"

"Mio will eventually insist on—"

"Ah, that's right, isn't it?" Yukko's eyebrows furrow in thought. "She's such a good little girl... Once we've both done it, she'll insist on doing it too in the interests of fairness. Well then, we'll just have to refuse her! I can think of some superficial reason on the spot, don't worry." She looks around. "This is pretty complicated. We should start writing some of this down."

"If she finds these notes—"

"She won't. Let's just keep the notes here, then, at your place."

"The paying strategy..." Mai pauses. "Won't she feel guilty? "

Yukko closes her eyes and sighs. "Yeah, this is trickier than I thought." She stands and walks up to the nearby desk.

"Then let's forget it."

"No freaking way." Yukko begins perusing the contents of the desk. "Hey, is this notebook okay? It's mostly blank, anyway." She holds up a thin green spiral-bound notebook.

"That was for science, third year middle sch—"

"Oh, it's fine, then." Yukko grabs a pencil, plops herself into the seat in front of the desk, and begins writing. "Hm... So anyway, that's all the superficial stuff that we can do... But we also need to strategize on how we are to restore the friendly relations between Mio-chan and her sister."

"We shouldn't."

"Just who exactly is her sister?" Yukko frowns. "We need to gather more intel." She twirls the pencil around her hand.

Mai closes her eyes. "More data can't hurt."

"Yeah..." Yukko makes a face, staring intently at the notebook.

There's a long pause. Then, Mai gets up, walks to the bookshelf and picks out a thin hardcover book. She walks over to Yukko and drops it on top of the notebook.

Yukko blinks. "This is?"

Mai points at the cover.

"Tokisadame High School Yearbook, 2010 to 2011," Yukko reads.

Mai reaches down and turns to page 134 in one fluid hand motion. This section of the yearbook appears to be graduation photos.

"Er... what exactly am I supposed to be looking at?" Yukko scans the contents of the page, confused. Then, something catches her eye. "Ah, hey! This 'Naganohara Yoshino'... I can see the resemblance. So, this is Mio-chan's sister?"

Mai nods.

"This is a good start to my information gathering. Thanks, Mai-chan!"

"I am not involved," says Mai.

"Ehh?" Yukko turns to Mai, pouting. "Come on, she's our friend! You should help out! Show some compassion!"

Mai just looks at Yukko with a blank expression.

Yukko frowns. Then, she shrugs. "Well, whatever."

There's a long pause. Then, Mai walks back to the cushion in front of the TV. She sits down, picks up the controller, and unpauses the game.

"Well, that's friendship, huh?" Yukko grins. "Helping each other. I like that!"

Mai doesn't say anything.

"But man, I never knew that Mio drew manga," says Yukko. "Well, I mean, she is pretty good at drawing, so I guess it's not too much of a stretch of imagination." She clenches her fists in excitement. "But wow, manga! That's like, so legit! I wonder what kind of manga she draws? Maybe we could ask her about it and encourage her and motivate her! That could also cheer her up."

"From your recap of the argument, she wanted to keep it a secret," says Mai.

"Well, of course! It would be kinda embarrassing, doing something awesome like that. And you wouldn't just want to tell anyone about it because then it'd seem sort of like bragging. Which would be bad. I think. But it should be fine if we ask her about it!"

"It may be secret for a reason."

"I don't see why. She's a good artist." Yukko grins. "Oh, maybe it's because she has manga that she drew a while ago, when her skills weren't that developed yet, and it's embarrassingly bad!" She giggles. "Ah, I'd see how she'd be reluctant to share that! Mn, I see, I see." She nods her head, eyes closed.

* * *

The bell rings. It's lunch time.

"Hey, Mio-chan, how're you doing?" asks Yukko, grinning.

"Fine," responds Mio.

Yukko blinks. What a terse response! "S...so, what do you want to go out for lunch? Mai-chan's coming along too, of course." She turns to Mai, who's still sitting at her desk. The girl is in the middle of perusing some sort of catalogue. "Er... right, Mai-chan?"

Mai gives Yukko a thumbs up without looking up.

"N...no, it's okay," says Mio, holding up her hands defensively. "I need to save up on money, so I brought my lunch from home—" She suddenly freezes.

"Mio-chan?" Yukko tilts her head.

Mio suddenly runs to her desk and pulls her wrapped obento out of her bag. She slams it onto her desk and begins unwrapping it with almost violent fervour. "Ah." She slaps her hand onto her forehead. "Of course. Why did I let her do my lunch? Why?" She begins slamming her head into the desk. "Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!"

Yukko grabs Mio's shoulders. "Stop that! You'll hurt yourself!" As she's struggling to restrain Mio, she glances down at Mio's lunch box. The only thing in it is white rice. Nothing else.

Mai walks over and sticks a food thermometer into the rice.

"Mai-chan," says Mio, "what are you—"

"It's warm," says Mai, tilting the thermometer so that the digital readout is visible to the others.

There's a long pause.

"I have money," says Mai, putting her thermometer away and pulling out a wallet.

"That's right," says Yukko. "Mai-chan will be treating today, so don't worry! Come with us today!"

"I...If you insist," murmurs Mio. "Thanks." She begins packing up her lunch box. She lets out a very deep sigh.

* * *

Yukko takes out her flip phone and dials Mai's number, not taking her eye off of the house on the other side of the street. The line picks up in the middle of the first tone. There's silence. "So, starting day 1 of reconnaissance on the Naganohara residence," says Yukko. "This is to ascertain behavioural patterns concerning the subject during post-school hours—"

"How far are you from the house?" asks Mai's voice.

"How far?" Yukko blinks. "Er, I'm right in front of it. Why?"

"Too obvious. Move farther away."

"What? Er..." Yukko picks up her school bag and begins walking away from the house at a quick pace. "I mean, I wasn't _that_ close."

Silence. "Describe your state of dress."

"What do you mean?"

Silence.

"Okayy... I'm in a black hoodie, jeans, normal running shoes, black hat, sunglasses—"

"Take off the hat and sunglasses."

"Wh...What are you talking about?" asks Yukko, hastily taking off aforementioned objects and stuffing them into her bag. She smiles nervously. "I'm not wearing those things. They're wayyy too obvious. I would never make such an amateurish mistake. Ha ha..."

"Good," comes Mai's satisfied voice.

"Wait, I think something's happening." Keeping the phone propped up against her ear with her right shoulder, she rummages through her bag for a pair of binoculars. "It's her!" Yukko's voice drops to a conspiratorial whisper. "It's the target. She's exiting the home."

There's a short pause as Yukko watches Mio's sister walk along the street. Yukko shoves the pair of binoculars into her bag and zips it up. She grabs her cell phone with her right hand. "I'm going to follow her," she hisses. "I'll see if I can collect any useful data."

"Don't be too obvious," says Mai's voice.

They continue walking for a long stretch of time.

"She made a left turn," reports Yukko, trailing Mio's sister at a safe distance.

More walking.

"Another left turn."

Some more walking.

"A left turn."

Even more walking.

"Yet... another left turn." Yukko blinks. "Hey, who makes four left turns in a row? Mio's got a weird sister, that's for sure."

"Actually—" Mai's voice pauses.

"Yeah?"

"Never mind. Call back later."

"Oh. Mai-chan, are you busy right now?"

Mai's response is a soft _hm_ in the affirmative.

"Oh, okay. I'll give you the full report tomorrow, then. See ya."

Mai hangs up. Yukko snaps her phone shut and tucks it away. She looks up and spots Mio's sister making yet another left turn. "Again?" mutters Yukko. "What is she doing, taking a walk around the block or something?" Keeping at a safe distance, Yukko walks around the corner fifteen seconds later.

She halts abruptly. Mio's sister is nowhere in sight.

Yukko squints and looks at the next intersection, which looks like it's a good 150 meters away. "Crap, that girl is fast!" She grabs her handbag tightly and takes off at a sprint, trying to get to the intersection as quickly as possible so that she doesn't lose Mio's sister.

* * *

Yoshino steps out from behind the tree, watching the strangely dressed girl run off ahead of her. Her eyebrows furrow for a moment. "Possibly one of Mio's friends," she says to herself. "She's the right age. But why would she be following me?" She shrugs nonchalantly. "Oh well."

She turns around and begins walking the other way at a casual pace. "Now, I've got to get to the grocery store before it closes. I can't believe we forgot to restock. The fridge was practically empty this morning..."

* * *

"Sorry!" Yoshino says into her cell phone at the grocery store. "Due to schedule constraints, I won't be able to do the job anymore."

"And your sister?" asks Nakanojou-san's voice.

"She won't be able to, either. Ahh, she's still in high school, you know? Busy times."

"I see. Very well." He hangs up.

"Well," says Yoshino, putting her phone away. "That settles that." She bends down, picks up her bags of groceries, and begins walking towards the checkout line.

She suddenly pauses. "Wait. When did he get my number?"

* * *

Nakanojou-san has taken to walking around town with the Daifuku-kun costume on. It's good advertising. After all, it is very obvious that it is supposed to be an anthropomorphized daifuku. As far as Nakanojou-san knows, his Daifuku-kun is the only daifuku-related mascot in the entire Tokisadame metropolitan area, so there should be no confusion. If a curious bystander were to spot him walking along the street, and if were to do some very basic cursory research regarding daifuku-related mascots, then they would discover very quickly that there is a Daifuku Fair every weekend from 9 am until 5 pm.

He allows himself a brief smile inside the mask. It's brilliant!

However, there's no point in advertising using Daifuku-kun if there isn't anyone to wear the Daifuku-kun costume during the Daifuku Fair. After making that phone call to Naganohara, whose phone number he had cross-referenced from the Tokisadame High student contact registry from last year, he learned that he can no longer neither depend on that elder Naganohara nor that younger Naganohara, and so he must find someone else for the job. After all, he couldn't possibly man the stand while simultaneously wearing the costume. Could he?

Nakanojou-san ponders the possibility for a moment before dismissing it. No. It's absolutely impossible. The existence of a mascot must be supplementary and separate from the vendor itself. Another other way simply doesn't make sense in his mind.

He blinks for a moment. This is sleepiness that's he's experiencing. It's tough maintaining her Daifuku Fair stand every weekend in addition to performing adequately his daily job at Daiku Daifuku. What he'd really like to do is create enough of an income from his own Daifuku business so that he can quit his job at Daiku Daifuku and work full time on his own daifuku. Given enough time, his Nakanojou Daifuku could beat the pants off of Daiku Daifuku any day.

Yes, definitely.

However, at the moment, he simply isn't receiving enough of income from Daifuku Fair to justify quitting his day job. He spent most of last night trying to think of how to increase revenue, which is why he's feeling sleeping right now.

Right, so coffee. That'll get him all awake again.

He looks up at the street signs, recognizing his current location. There's a Daiku Coffee just a block away from here. That's convenient. He begins walking in that direction, ignoring all of the fascinated glances being shot his way.

In any case, if Naganohara (II) and Naganohara (III) are no good, then perhaps he can get Tamamura back onto the job, and then everything will be swell.

Chimes jingle as he pulls open the door to the coffee shop. Well, even if she can't, then he could put up posters and attract workers that way.

"Na...Na...Nakanojou-san!" squeaks Tamamura, who's standing at the counter.

Nakanojou-san looks up. Deep inside, he feels somewhat disappointed.

"I... er... um..." Tamamura stammers, a hand held up close to her mouth. "This isn't..."

"I see," says Nakanojou-san. "I see how it is." If she already has a job, then there's no point in asking her. He turns around and walks out.

* * *

"Okay guys, we're eating lunch today at that famous udon and soba place!" declares Yukko.

"Hm?" Mio smiles, putting her books away into her bag. "We're eating out again today?"

"Of course, of course!" grins Yukko. "I read about it in a magazine!"

"Sounds interesting," says Mio, standing up, bag over her shoulder.

Yukko is already at the door. "Off and away!" she shouts, pointing upwards.

"Yes, yes," Mio says placatingly, tucking in her chair and then walking towards the door at a slower pace.

Mai closes the book in her hands, puts it into her bag, and then stands up. "Let's go."

* * *

_h(x) = f(x)g(x)  
dh(x)/dx = lim[h → 0] ((f(x + h)g(x + h) - f(x)g(x)) / h)  
= lim[h → 0] ((f(x + h)g(x + h) - f(x + h)g(x) + f(x + h)g(x) - f(x)g(x)) / h)  
= lim[h → 0] ((f(x + h)(g(x + h) - g(x)) + g(x)(f(x + h) - f(x))) / h)  
= lim[h → 0] (f(x + h)(g(x + h) - g(x)) / h) + lim[h → 0] (g(x)(f(x + h) - f(x)) / h)  
= f(x) lim[h → 0] ((g(x + h) - g(x)) / h) + g(x) lim[h → 0]((f(x + h) - f(x)) / h)  
= f(x) g'(x) + g(x) f '(x)_

* * *

日常 - nichijou, Arawi Keiichi


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